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Photographic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


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Microfiche 

Series. 


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CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
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Canadian  InAtltuia  for  Historical  Microraproductipns  /  Inttltut  Canadian  da  microraproductlons  hlstoriquaa 


T«chnical  and  Bibliographic  Notas/Notas  tachniquas  at  bibliographiquaa 


0 


Tha  Inatituta  has  attamptail  to  obtain  tha  bast 
original  copy  availabia  for  filming.  Faaturas  of  this 
copy  which  may  ba  bibliographically  uniqua, 
wliich  may  altar  any  of  tha  imagaa  in  tha 
raprO<tuction,  or  which  may  significantly  changa 
tha  usual  mathod  of  filming,  ar'a  chacliad  balow. 


D 
D 

D 
D 


D 
D 
D 

a 


D 


D 


Colourad  covars/ 
Couvartura  da  coulaur 

CoVars  damagad/ 
Couvartura  andommagia 

Covars  rastorad  and/or  laminatad/ 
Couvartura  rastaurte  at/ou  pallicul^ 

COvar  titia  missing/ 

La  titra  da  couvartura  manqua 


□    Colourad  maps/ 
Cartas  gAographiquaa  an  jcouiaur 


Colourad  inic  ().a.  o^har  than  blua  or  blacid/ 
Encra  da  coulaur  (i.a.  autra  qua  biaua  ou  noira) 

Colourad  platas  and/or  illustrationa/ 
Planchas  at/ou  illuatrations  an  coulaur 

Bound  with  othar  matarial/     - 
Rail*  avac  d'autraa  documants 

Tight  binding  may  causa  shadows  or  distortion 
along  intarior  margin/ 

Lar«liura  aarria  paut  cauaar  da  I'ombra  ou  da  la 
diatorsion  la  long  da  la  marga  int*riaura 

Blank  laavas  addad  during  rastoration  may 
appaar  within  th«  taxt.  Whanavar  possibia,  thasa 
hava  baan  omittad  from  filming/ 
II  aa  paut  qua  cartainaa  pagas  blanchaa  a|outAas 
lors  d'una  raatauration  apparaissant  dans  la  taxta. 
mais,  lorsqua  eala  itait  possibia.  caa  pagaa  n'ont 
paa  «t«  film4as. 

Additional  oommanta:/ 
Commantairas  supplAmantairas; 


L'InatftMt  a  microfilm*  la  maillaur  axamplaira 
qu'il  lui  a  «t«  possibia  da  sa  procurar.  Las  details 
da  cat  axamplaira  qui  sont  paut-Atra  uniques  du 
point  da  vua  bfbliographiqua.  qui  pauvant  modifier 
una  image  raproduita.  ou  qui  pauvant  axiger  una 
modification  dans  la  m^thoda  normala  de  filmage 
sont  indiquis  ci-daasous. 


D 


Colourad  pagaa/ 
Pages  de  couleur* 


r~~]    Pages  damaged/ 


Pagaa  andommagias 

Pagas  reatorad  and/oi 

Pages  reatauri^,  at/ou  pallicui^as 


r~|    Pages  reatorad  and/or  laminated/ 


^  I    Pagaa  diacolourlbd.  stained  or  foxed/ 
^  ''  Pages  dAooior«as,.tachet«es  ou  piqu^as 


^      r~]   P<g*a  detached/ 


0 


Pagas  ditachAas 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 


□    Quality  of  print  varies/ 
Qualiti  inigala  da  I'imprassion 

r~|    Includes  supplementary  material/ 


Tha  co| 
to  thai 


D 

D 


Comprand  du  mat*rial  suppi4mentaira 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Mition  disponible 

Pagaa  wholly  or  partially  ^scurad  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc..  have  Man  refilmed  to 
ensure  tha  bast  postibla/imaga/ 
Les  pagas  totalamant  ou  partlallamant 
obaourcias  par  un  fauillet  d'arrata.  una  palure. 
etc..  ont  4ti  film*es  i  nouvaaif  da  fapon  A 
obtanir  la  mailieure  image  possible. 


Thaim 
poaaibi 
of  tha ( 
filming 


Origlna 
baginni 
tha  laai 
aion,  Di 
othar  o 
first  pa 
slon,  ai 
or  illual 


Tha  laa 
shall  cc 
TINUEt 
whicha 

Mapa,  I 
diffarar 
entirely 
beglnni 
right  an 
raqulra( 
mathod 


Thhi  Item  is  filmed  at  tha  radubtlon  ratio  eheoked  below/ 

Ca  dooumant  eat  film«  au  taux  da  rMuotion  Indiqu*  oidaaaoua 


"TW 


14X 


1BX 


tax 


aix 


7 


i^piri 


lOX 


mn 


MX 


sax 


f'i 


f*:' 


The  copy  fiim«d  h«r«  hat  b««n  raprbducvd  thanks 
to  the  gonorotity  of: 

Douglas  Library 
Quaan's  Uni varsity 

Tha  imagas  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  bast  quality 
possibia  considaring  tha  condition  and  iaglbillty 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  kaaping  with  iha 
filming  contract  spacif icationa. 


Original  copifs  in  printad  papar  covars  ara  fllmad 
baginning  with  tha  front  coyar  and  anding  on 
tha  last  paga  with  a  printad  or  lilustratad  impraa- 
sion,  or  tha  back  covar  whan  appropriata.  All 
othar  original  copias  ara  fittnad  baginning  on  tha 
first  paga  with  a  printad  or  illuitr^tad  impraa- 
sion,  and  anding  on  tha  last  paga  With  a  printad 
or  lilustratad  imprassion.  >> 


Tha  last  racordad  f rama  on  aach  microficha  . 
shall  contain  tha  symbol  -*►  (moaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  tha  symbol  y  (moaning  "END"), 
whichavar  appijas. 

Maps,  piatas.  chart's,  ate.  may  ba  fllmad  at 
diffarant  raduction  ratios.  Thoaa  too  larga  to  ba 
antlraly  Includad  in  ona  axpoaura  ara  fllmad 
baginning  In  tha  uppar  laft  hand  cornar.  If  ft  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  framaa  at 
raquirad.  Tha  following  diagrams  lllustrata  tha 
mathod: 


1  2  3     r 


L'axaniplalra'fllmA  fut  raprodult  grica  A  la 
gAn#rbalt4  da: 

/  Douglas  Library 

/  .  Quaan's  Univarslty 

Las  Imagaa  suhrantas  ont  At*  raproduitas  avac  la 
plus  grand  soin.  odmpta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattat*  da  i'axamplaira  film*,  at  w 
conformitA  avac  iaa  conditions  du  eontrat  4la 
filmaga. 

Laa  axamplatraa  originaux  dont  la  couvartura  an 
paplar  aat  ImprlmAa  sont  filmAs  an  commandant 
par  la  pramiar  plat  at  ab  tarmlnant  soit  par  la 
darnlAra  paga  qui  coraporta  una  ampralnta 
d'Impraaaion  pu  d'lilustrationr,  solt  par  la  sacond 
plat,  salon  la  caa.  Jous  laa  autras  axamplalras 
originaux  sont  filmAs  an  commanpant  par  la 
pramlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'Impraaaion  ou  d'iiiustratlon  at  an  tarminant  par 
la  darn1*ra  paga  qui  comporta  una  taila 
amprainta. 

\^Un  das  symbolas  sulvants  apparattra  sur  la 
^dfrniAra  imaga  da  chaqua  microficha.  salon  la    \ 
casrte  symbols  — »>  signifia  "A  8UIVRE".  la 
symbola^  signifia  "FIN". 


Las  cartas,  plahotias,  tablaaux.  ate.  pauvant  *tra 
film«a  i  das  taux  cto^uction  dIffArants. 
Loraqiia  la  dooumant  asttrop  grand  pour  At/a 
raprodult  an  un  saul  cOchA^^I  aat  fllmA  A  partir 
da  I'angia  supArlaur  gauoha,  do  gaucha  A  drolta. 
at  da  haut  an  baa.  an  pranant  la^umibra 
d'imagas  nAoassaita.  Lai  dlagrammAs^sulvants 
illustrant  M  mAthoda.  x 


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X*' 


A  SECOND  VISIT 


TO 


'  '-A 

.1 


a,' 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


OF  t 


I 


N0RTH'*AMER1(5A. 


vol:  1. 


I  i. 


i 


/ 


i.« 


« 


i^i^:.^aMlii!t;Maa 


MkUtaMMMka 


,MA«MmAmmm<f''.'^'-  -M^- 


t-f^ftl^"  ^   ^  t^-Ti  -__<*■- 


'X 


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■"■-,  \ 


/" 


London : 

8l>n'miiwi>oi>iti  and  Siuw, 
New-itrMt-Hquare. 


ilPT^P^^f^-^ 


■H   ,  -^i-^A      Tf     -pb  f*Wy 


A  SECOND.  VFSIT 


TO 


THE   UNITED   STATES 


or 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


BT 


SIR  CHARLES  LYELL,  F.R.S. 

?BE8IDBNT     OF     TUB     OKOLOQICAL     SOCIETY     OF     IX)NUON, 

AUTHOR   OF    "  TUB   PRINQr^LBS   OF   GEOLOOY," 

AND  "TRAVELS  IN  NORTH  AMERICA." 


IN    TWO    VOLUMES. 
VOL.   I. 


B, 


'^ 


8EC0HD  EDITION,  E1VI«»  AHJb  COESECTlD. 

J- , , 


'  /^"i. 


LO^DON^- 
JOHN  MURRAY,  ALBEMARLE  STREET. 


^   f 


•^ 


\ 


UP 


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1/ 


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*-.. 


».    Pstosi 


•l  t 


VI 


I** 


1       \"-^   v>  4■^       (ffitj--«-,i 


CONTENTS 


{  o' 


THE  FIRST  VOLUME. 


CHAPTER  I. 


Voyage  from  Liverpool  to  Halifax.  Gale.  Iceberg.  Drift 
Ice  and  Gulf  Stream.  Coast  of  Newfoundland.  Engine- 
room  of  Steamer.  Conversations  on  Coolies  in  the  West 
Indies.  Halifax.  News  of  Judge  Story's  Death.  Bos- 
ton. Success  of  the  Mail  Steam  Packets.  Custom 
House  Officers  -  -  -  .         ^       i 


CHAP.  II. 

Boston.  Horticulittoil  Show  in  Faneuil  Hall.  Review  of 
Militia.  Pcftce  Association.  Excursion  to  the  White 
Mountains.  RaUway  TravelUng.  Portsmouth,  New 
Hampshire.  Geology,  Fossils  in  Drift.  Submarine 
Forest.  WUd  Plants :  Asters,  Solidagos,  Poison  Ivy. 
Swallows.  Glacial  Grooves.  Rocks  transported  by 
Antarctic  Ice.  Body  of  a  Whale  discovered  by  au 
American  Trader  in  an  Iceberg  -  .  -     21 

A  8 


6190 


.  z:)ifh.L-^:^i-J^^irk.n 


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■*pi,  n\t^i.nsmmmmm 


t,  !•  -y^"- r*i^^'vp     Jj^   i^V^i 


VI 


CONTENTS. 


CHAP.  in. 


Page 


Portland  in  Maine.  Kennebec  River.  Timber  Trade. 
Fossil  Shells  at  Gardfiner.  Augusta  the  Capital  of  Maine. 
Legal  Profession  :  Advocates  and  Attorneys.  Equality 
of  Sects.  Religious  Toleration.  Calvinistic  Theology. 
Day  of  Doom   -  -  -  -  - 


-     40 


CHAP.  IV. 


Journey  from  Portland  to  the  White  Mountains.  Planta. 
Churches,  School-houses.  Temperance  Hotel.  Intelli- 
gence of  New  England.  Climate,  Consumption.  Con- 
way. Divisiow  of  Projierty .  Every  Man  his  own  Tenant. 
Autumnal  Tints.  Bears  hybernating.  Willey  Slide. 
Theory  of  Scratches  and  Grooves  on  Rocks.  Scenery. 
Waterfalls  and  Ravines.  The  Notch.  Forest  Trees 
.;    and  Mountain  Plants.    Fabyan's  Hotel.     Echo 


66 


CHAP.  V. 


Ascent  of  Mount  Washington.  Mr.  Oakes.  Zones  of 
Distinct  Vegetation.  Belt  of  Dwarf  Firs.  Bold  Region 
and  Arctic  Flora  on  Summit.  View  from  Summit.  Mi- 
gration of  Plants  from  Arctic  Regions.  Change  of  Cli- 
mate', unce  Glacial  Period.  Granitic  Uwka  of  White 
Mounts^l^k  Franconia  Notch.  Revival  at  Bethlehem. 
Millerite  wfeVment.  The  Tabernacle  at  Boston.  Mor- 
mons.   Remarks 'bBj^ewEAgland. Fanaticism  - 


74 


'r«- 


•►4 


CONTENTS. 


VH 


CHAP.  VI. 


Social  Equality.  Position  of  Servants.  War  with  Eng 
land.  Coalition  of  Northern  Democrats,  and  Southern 
Slave-owners.  Ostracism  of  Wealth.  Legislators  paid. 
Envy  in  a  Democracy.  Politics  of  the  Country  and  the 
City.  Pledges  at  Elections.  Universal  Suffrage.  Ad- 
venture  in  a  Stage  Coach.  Return  from  the  White 
Mountains.  Plymoutlfcin  New  Hampshire.  Congrega- 
tional and  Methodist  Churches.  Theological  Discussions 
of  Fellow  Travellers.  Temperance  Movement.  Post- 
Office  Abuses.    Lowell  Factories  -  . 


Page 


93 


\ 


-  CHAP.  vn. 

Plymouth,  Massachusetts.  Plymouth  Beach.  Marine 
Shells.  Quicksand.  Names  of  Pilgrim  Fathers.  Fore- 
fathers' Day.  Pilgrim  ReUcs.  Their  Authenticity  con- 
sidered. Decoy  Pond.  A  Barn  TravelUng.  Excursion 
to  Sfelem.  Museum;  Warrants  for  Execution  of 
Witches.  Causes  of  the  Persecution.  Conversation  with 
Coloured  Abolitionists.  Comparative  Capacity  of  White 
and  Negrt)  Races.    Half  Breeds  and  Hybrid  InteUects  -  1 11 

CHAP  VHT 

Pretended  Fossil  Sea  Serpent,  or  Zeuglodon,,  from  Ala- 
bama. Recent  Ad^l^hcc  of  a  Sea  Serpent  in  Gulf  of 
St.  Lawrence.  In*^J6rway  in  .1845.  Near  Cape  Ann, 
Massachusetts,  1817.  American  Descriptions.  Conjec- 
tures as  to  Nature  of  the  Animal.  Sea  Snake  stranded 
in  the  Orkneys  proved  to  be  a  Shark.  Dr.  Barclay's 
Memoir.  Sir  Everard  Home's  Opinion.  Sea  Serpen^ 
of  Hebrides,  1808.  Reasons  for  concluding  that  Pon- 
toppidan's  Sea  Snake  was  a  Basking  Shark.  Captain 
M'Quhae's  Sea  Serpent  -  .  -  .131 


/i 


■*f  'f^^^m^Si 


"«.V 


Vlll 


CONTENTS. 


^' 


CHAP.  iXr 


Page 


Boston.  No  Private  Lodgings.  Boarding  Houses.  Hotels. 
Effects  of  the  Climate  on  Health.  Large  ^Fortunes. 
Style  of  Living.  '  Servants.  ,  Carriages.  Education  of 
Ladies.  Marriages.  Professional  Incomes.  Protection- 
ist Doctrines.  Peculiarities  of  Language.  Literary 
Tastes.    Cost  of  Living.    Alai^ms  of  Fire  - 


152 


CHAP.  X. 


^ 


Boston.    Blind  Asylupa  and  Laura  Bridgeman.    Respect 

'     for  Freedom,  of  Conscience.     Cemetry  of  Mount  X"- 

bum.   Channing's  Cenotaph,   Episcopal  Churches.   ITni- 

,'     tarian  Congregations.     Eminent  Preachers.    Progress  of 

Unitarians  why  slow.    Their,  Works  reprinted  in  Eng-- 

land.    Nothingarians.    Episcopalian  Asceticism.    Sepan  / 


ration  of  Religion  and  Politics  - 


CHAP.  XI.  I 

Boston.  Whig  Caucus.  Speech  of  Mr.  Webster.  Poli 
tics  in  Maasichusetts.  Election  of  Governor  and  Repre- 
sentatives. Thanksgiving  Day  and  Govemos's  Procla- 
mation. Absence  of  J^auperism.  Irish  Repeal  Meeting. 
New  England  Sympathiser.  Visit  to  a  Free  School. 
State  Education.  Pay  and  Social  Rank  of  Teachers. 
Importance  of  the  Profession.     Rapid  Progress  and 

-  Effects  of  Educational  Movement.*  Popular  Lectures. 
Lending  Libraries         --.*"' 


-;,x*t 


180 


# 


V    ".- 


/ 


•>•- 


fapBMi^ 


■  \  ,. 


's:•v^'^ 


coktents. 


CHAP.  XII. 


IX 


Page 


N 


Boston,  Popul^  Education,  continued.     Patronage  of  Uni 
versities  and  Science.    Channrng  on  Alilton.    Milton's 
Scheme  ofteaqhing  the  Natural  Sciences.  New  England 
Free  Schools.     Tteir  Origin.     First  Ptiritan  Settlers 
not  illiterate.  Bincerity  of  their  Religious  Faith.  Scjiools  >  ~ 
founded  in  Seventeenth  Century  in  Massachusetts.^,  Dis-  • 
QO^raged  in  Virginia.     Sir  W:  Berkeley's  Letter.  Pastor 
-  Robinson's  Vi^ws  of  ^x)gres3  in  Religion.     Organiza- 
tion- of  Congregational  Churches.      No  Penalties  for 
Qissent.    Provision  made  for  future  VariationsmiSreeds. 
Mode  of  yig^tng  exemplified.     Impossibility  of -conceal- 
ing Truths  relating  to  Religion  from  an  educated  Popu- 
lation.  Gain  to  the  Higher  Classes,  especially  the  Clergy. 
New  Theological  College.     The  f.,ower  Orders  not  ren*      « 
deifed  indolent^  discontented,  or  irreligious  by  Education.         . 
Peculiar  Stimulus  To  Popular  Instruction  in  the  Utiited    ^, 
States  -         ■"-  V.  ..  .  .  '        ,  i^QQ 


r 


^i 


CHAP.  XIII. 


Leaving  Boston  for  the  Soijth.  Railway  Stove.  Pall  of 
Snow,  Newhaven,  and  Visit  to  Professor  Silliman. 
New  York.  Improvements  in  the  City.  Groton  \Va- 
terworks.  Fountains.  Recent^  Conflagration.  New 
Churches.  Trinity  Church.'  News  from  Europe  of 
Converts  to  Rome.  Reaction  against  Tractarians. 
Electric  Telegraph,  its  Progress  in  America.  Morse 
and  Wheatstone.  1 1,000  Schools  in  New  York  fof  Se- 
cular Instruction.  ■'AbsenQe  of  Smo£e.  Irish  Voters.' 
Nativism  -  -  t         . 


J 


^.■ 


-  233 


4- 


; 


X 


"re. 


.J,,, 


.»^ 


I 
1...:/ 


■■) 


0 


CONTENTS. 


CHAP.  XIV. 


Page 


New   York  to  Philadelphia.     Scenery  in   New   Jersey. 
War  about  Oregon.     Protectionist  Theories.     Income 
Tax  and  Repudiation.     Recriminations  against  British 
Aggrandisement.    Irish  Quarter  and  fraudulent  Votes.        ■ 
Washington.     Congress  and  Annexation  of  Texas.     Ge- 
neral Cass  for  War.    Winthrop  for  Arbitration.  ,  In-' 
Hated  Eloquence.     Supreme  Court.     Slavery  in  District 
of  Columbia.     Museum,  Collection  of  Corals.     Sculp- 
ture from  Palenque.     Conversations  with  Mr.  Fox.    A 
Residence  at  Washington  not  favourable  to  a  just  Esti- 
mate of  the  United  States.    False  Position  of  Foreign 
Diplomatists      -  -  -     »       -  -  -  251 

•         I     ■ 

(  • 

♦  CHAP.  XV. 


\Viiflhington*.to  Richmond.  Legislature  of  Virginia  in 
Session.  Substitution  of  White  for  Slave  Labour. 
Progress  of  Negro  Instruction.  Slave-dealers.  Kind- 
ness to  Negroes.  Coal  of  Oolitic  Period  near  l;lich- 
mond:  Visit  to  the  Mines.  Upright  Fossil  Trees. 
Deep  Shafts,  and  Thickness  of  Coal  Seams.  Explosion 
of  Gas.  Natural  Coke.  Resemblance  of  the  more 
modern  Coal-measures  to  old  Carboniferous  Rocks. 
Wliites  working  with  free  Negroes  in  the  Mines 


•271 


CHAP.  XVI. 

Journey  through  North  Cjirolina.  Wilmington.  Recent 
Fire  and  Passports  for  Slaves.  Capo  Fear  River  and 
Smithfield.  Spanish  Mofss,  and  Uses  of.  CharlesU.n. 
Anti-Negro  Feeling.  Passage  from  Mulattos  to  Whites. 
Law  against  importing  free  Blacks.     Dispute  with  Mas- 


ia,I^JfiJ'  W  !r 


';!pi«3P'TT''''s^^"- *"'''*■ 


'f 


COIfXENTS. 


XI 


»  "  Page 

sachusetts.  Society  in  Charleston.  Grovernesses.  War- 
Panic.  Anti-English  Feeling  caused  by  Newspaper 
Press.  National  Arbitration  of  €he  .Americans.  Dr. 
Badiman's  Zoology.  Geographical  Representations  of 
Species.     Rattle- Snakes.     Turkey  Buzzards     -  '-  289 


CHAP.  XVII. 


Cbarlestori  to  Savannah.  Beaufort  River,  or  Inland  Na- 
vigation in  South  Carolina.  Slave  Stealer.  Cockspur 
Island.  Rapid  Growth  of  Oysters.  Eagle  caught  by 
Oyster.  Excursion  frOM^avannah  to  Skiddaway  Is- 
land. Megatherium  afPBlylodon.  Cabbage  Palms,  or 
Tree  Palmettos.  Deceptive  Appearance  of  Submarine 
Forest.  Alligators  swallowing  Flints.  Their  Tenacity 
of  Life  when  decapitated.  Grove  of  Live  Oaks.  Slaves 
taken  to  Free  States     -        ,    -  -  -  -  307 


CHAP.  XVIII. 

Savannah  to  Darien.  Anti-Slavery  Meq^ings  discussedl  - 
War  with  England.  Landing  at  Darien.  Crackers. 
Scenery  on  Alatamaha  River.  Negro  Boatmen  singing. 
Marsh  Blackbird  in  Rice  Grounds.  Hospitality  of 
Southern  Plantcnj.  New  Clearing  and  Natural  Rota- 
tion of  Trees.  Birds.  -Shrike  and  Kipgfisher.  Excur- 
sion to  St,  Simond's  Island.  Butler's  Island  and  Ne- 
gnwH.  Stumps  of  Trees  in  Salt  Marshes  proving  Sub- 
aidunco  of  Land.  Alligator  seen.  Their  Nests  and 
Habits.  Their  Fciir  of  Poriwisos.  Indian  Shell  Mound 
on  St.  Simon's  Island.  Dato-1'alm,  Orange,  Lcinon, 
and  Olivo  Trees.  Hurricanes.  Visit  to  outermoHt 
Barrier  Island.  Sua  Shells  on  Buat^h.  Negro  Muid- 
Serrants  -  -  •  -  - 


B 


•I 


3'il 


^mf&'.fW;- 


f 


0^^'i-t~i-\'4.^ 


*"  CONTENTS. 

CHAP.  XIX. 

Rirer«  made  turbid  by  the  Clearing  of  Foi^sts.     Land^ 

mmgm  succcBsive  Terraces.     Origin  of  these.    Bones 

of  extinct  QuadrupedB  in  Lower  Terrace.    Associated 

Mannebhells.    Digging  of  Brunswick  Canal.    Extinc 

tion  of  Megatherium  and  its  Contemporaries.     Dyini? 

out  of   rare   Species.     Gordonia  Pubescens.      Life  of 

f7f ;"./;'""*«'•«•      Negroes    on   a  Rice   Plantation. 

illack  Children.     Separate  Negro  Houses.     Wor 

acted.     Hospital  for  Negroes.     Fo(h1  and  Dress. 

Driver.     Prevention  of  Crimes.     African!'^ 

gresi,  of  Negroes  in  Civilisation.     Conversicflifc— rnns- 

tmn.ty.     Episcopalian,  Baptist,  and  MethodisTiission. 

Anna  A  .\.»1 .•  ,    ,  _.  ^  "w»v*i 


age 


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..  .=:.i.,   .      ...  ,fc...,.,*._Ej.k» 

■'^- 

':-'' 

ff 


X 


A   SECdND   VISIT 


10 


THE  UNITED  STATES 


IN  THE   YEARS    1845  —  6. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Voyage  from  Liverpool  to  Halifax.  —  Gale.  —  Iceberg.  —  Drift 
Ice  and  Gulf  Stream.  —  Coatt  of  Newfoundland.  —  Engine- 
room  of  Steamer.  —  Convertations  on  Coolies  in  the  Weit 
Indies.— Halifax.— News  of  Judge  Story's  Death.— Boston.— 
Success  qfthe  Mail  Steam  Pdckets.  —  Custom  House  Offia-rs. 

Sept.  4.  1846.— Embarked  with  my  wife  at  Liver- 
pool, in  the  Britannia,  one  of  the  Cunard  line  of 
«team-8hips,  bound  for  Halifax  and  Boston.  On 
leaving  the  wharf,  we  had  first  been  crammed,  with 
a  crowd  of  passengers  and' heaps  of  luggage,  into  a 
diminutive  steamer,  which  looked  like  a  toy  by  the 
side  of  the  larger  ship,  of  1200  tons,  in  which  we 
wer^  to  cross  the  ocean.  I  was  reminded,  however, 
bjr  a  friend,  that  this  small  craft  was  more  than  three 
times  as  largo  as  one  of  the  open  caravels  of  Colum- 
bus, in  his  first  voyage,  which  was  only  15  tons 
■     VOL.^T-  — K 


2  VOYAGE  TROM  LIVERPOOL.  [Chap.  I. 

burden,  and  without  a  deck.  It  is,  indeed,  marvellous 
to  reflect  on  the  daring  of  the  early  adventurers;  for 
,  Probisher,  in  1576,  made  his  way  from  the  Thames 
to  the  shores  of  Labrador  with  two  small  barks  of 
20  and  25  tofis  each,  not  much  surpassing  in  size  the 
barge  of  a  man  of  war;  and  Sir  Humphry  Gilbert 
crossed  to  Newfoundland,  in  1583,  in  a  bark  of  ,10 
tons  only,  which  was  lost  in  a  tempest  on  the  return 

voyage. 

The  morning  after  we  set  sail  we  found  ourselves 
oflF  Cork,  in  the  midst  of  the  experimental  squadron 
of  steamers  and  ships  of  the  line,  commanded  by  Sir 
Hyde  Parker.  They  had  been  out  several  weeks 
performing  their  nautical  evolutions,  and  we  had  the 
amusement  of  passing  close  to  the  largest  sliips  of 
the  fleet  — the  St.  Vincent  and  the  Superb.  Our 
captain  fired  a  salute  as  we  went  under  the  batteries 
of  the  last  of  these  —  the  Admiral's  ship. 

After  sailing  at  the  rate  of  more  than  200  miles  a 
day  for  four  days,  our  progress  was  retarded,  Sept.  8., 
by  an  equinoctial  gale,  which  came  in  from  the  south- 
west, and,  blowing  for  twelve  hottrs,  raised  such  a 
sea,  that  we  only  made  four  miles  an  hour. 

Another  gale  of  still  greater  violence  came  on  six 
days  afterwards,  on  the  night  of  the  14th,  when  the 
»hip  was  running  at  the  rate  of  ten  and  a  half  milea 
an  liour,  along  the  eastern  edge  of  the'  Great  Bank. 
The  wind  had  been  N.  E.,  when  suddenly,  and  in  an 
instant,  it  blew  from  the  N.W.  I  was  in  my  berth 
below  when  this  squall  struck  the  vessel,  and  sup- 
posed that  we  had  run  upon  some  floating  timber  or 
an  iceberg.     We  felt  the  ship  heel  as  if  falling  over. 


I 


p^->>  ' 


'"■7^*5, -(I'  1^ 


Chap.  I.] 


•  GALE. 


On  inquiry  next  day  of  the  captain,  and  the  only 
paasen^r  who  waa  on.declc  at  the  time  of  this  con- 
cussion, I  learnt  that  they  saw  a  cloud  of  white 
foam  advancing  towards  them  on  the  surface  of  the 
sea  from  the  N.  W.,  like  a  line'of  surf  on  a  beach. 
The  captain  had  time  to  get  the  sails  hauled  half  up, 
all  except  the  top-sail,  which  was  torn  to  pieces,  when 
the  advancing  line  of  foam  reached  the  ship,  at  which 
moment  there  was  some  vivid  lightning,  which  the 
passenger  thought  was  the  cause   of  the   blow  re- 
sembling  the   blow   of   a    solid   body   against   the 
steamer.     When   the  wind  first  fiUed  the  sails  in 
an  opposite  direction,  it  seemed  aa  if  the  maats  must 
give  way.     All  hands  had  been  called  on  deck,  and 
the  men  went  into  the  rigging  to  furl  the  sails  with 
the  utmost  order  and  coolness.     In  a  few  minutes 
the -wind  had  veered  rapidly  round  the  compass,  from 
N.W.  to  N.E.,  and  then  went  on  to  blow  from  this, 
the  old  quarter  again,  a  perfect  hurricane  for  twenty- 
three  hours;  the  spray  being  carried  mast  high,  so 
that  tiiere  was  a  complete  mingling  of  sea  And  sky. 
We  could  never  tell  whether  the  cloud  whi«h  enve^ 
loped  us  consisted  chiefly  of  the  foam  blown  off  the 
crests  of  the  waves,  or  of  the  driving  mist  and  rain 
which  were  falling  ^during  the  greater  part  of  the 
day. 

Among  our  passengers  were  some  experienced 
American  sea-cr^ptains,  who  had  commanded  vessels 
of  their  own  round  Capo  Horn,  and,  being  now  for 
the  first  time  in  a  steamer  at  sea,  were  watching 
with  professional  interest  the  Britannia's  behaviour 
in  the  "torm.    They  came  to  the  oonolugionj  thjit  qhp 


I  8 


l|l»ii<<MNMpiMe> 


PORPOI8E8. 


[Ghap.  I. 


■' 


.  J 


••     i 


^■• 


of  these  vessels,  weU  appointed,  with  a  fuH  crew, 
skilled  officers,  and  good  engineers,  was  safer  than 
any  sailing  packet;  being  light  in  their  ngging,  and 
having  small  sails,  they  run  no  danger  of  having  then: 
masts  carried  away  in  a  stiff  breeze,  and  the  power 
of  steam  enables  them  always  to  make  way,  so  as  to 
steer  and  keep  their  head  to  the  wind,  on  which 
safety  depends.    It  sometimes  happens,  when  a  wave 
strikes  a  saUing  vessel  in  a  squall,  that  before  she  has 
time  to  work  round  and  get  her  head  to  windward, 
another  wave  breaks  over  and  swamps  her,  and  to 
such  an  accident  the  loss  of  several  packets  between 
the  United  States  and  Liverpool  is  attributed. 

I  observed  that  there  was  no  Hghtning  conductor 

4«.<^ur  ship ;  and  it  seems  to  be  the  prevailing  belief 

that  steam-boats  are  less  liable  than  other  vessels  to 

suffer  from  lightning,  although  the  steamers  in  the 

royal  navy  are  fitted  with  copper-wire  rope   con- 

ductors. 

My  chief  amusement,  when  the  weather  was  mo- 
derate, was  to  watch  the  porpoises  {Delphinus  pho- 
cana)  gamboling,  rolling,  and  tumbling  in  thcwater, 
and  yet  keeping  up  with  our  ship  when  she  was 
running  eleven   miles   an  hour.      They  were  very 
numerous,  usually  following  each. other  in  a  hne  at 
short  intervals,  each   individual  about  four  or  five 
feet  long,  their  backs  of  a  blueish-black  colour,  swim- 
ming without  effort,  and  seeming  scarcely  to  moye 
either  their  fins  or  tail.     Occasionally  they  dive,  and 
then  rc-appear  to  take  breath  at  a  great  distance, 
often  leaping  up  out  of  the  water,  so  as  to  display  their 
^ilvgry  white  bodiejB.    The  Only  other  living  creatures 


rv^^^y  ..'"^fti ' 


..-  ^"'■^pf    >. 


r  f 


^rV  -T        V^""'    ■'^t    STSr 


Chap.  I.] 


ICEBERG. 


which  attracted  our  attention,  when  still  far  from 
land,  were  enormous  flights  of  sea-birds,  which  filled 
the  air,  or  were  seen  swimming  on  the  ocean  near  the 
shoal  called  the  Flemish  Cap,  lat.  47°  35'  N.,  long. 
44°  32'  W.  They  feed  on  fish  peculiar  to  these  com- 
paratively shallow  parts  of  the  Atlantic. 

But  the  event  of  chief  interest  to  me  on   this 
voyage  was  beholding,  for  the  first  time  in  my  life, 
a  large  iceberg.     It  came  in  sight  on,  the  13th  Sept., 
a  season  when  they  are  rarely  met  with  here.     We 
were  nearing  the  Great  Bank,  which  was  ^out  eight 
miles  distant,  the  air  foggy,  so  that  I  could  only 
see  it  dimly  through  the  telescope,  althoijglt  i|t^  was  as 
white  as  snow,  and  supposed  by  the  oflScets  to  be 
about  200  feet  high.     The  fog^y  and  chilly  state  of 
the  atmosphere  had  led  the  captain  to  suspect  the 
proximity  of  floating  ice,  and  half-hourly  observations 
had  been  made  on  the  temperature  of  the  sea,  but 
the  water  was  always  af'49°>:;^  as  is  usual  in  this 
month.     We  were  then  in  lat.  47°  37'  N.,  long.  45° 
39'  W.,  our  latitude  corresponding  to  that  of  the 
Loire  in  France.  "^ 

To  a  geologist,  accustomed  to  seek  for  the  expla- 
nation of  various  phenomena  in  the  British  Isles 
and  Northern  Europe,  eppecially  the  transportation  ' 
of  huge  stones  to  great  distances,  and  the  polishing  * 
and  grooving  of  the  surfaces  pf  solid  rocks,  by  refer- 
ring to  the  agency  of  icebergs  at  remote!  periods, 
when  much  of  what  is  now  land  in  the  northern, 
hemisphere  was  still  submerged,  it  is  no  small  grati- 
fication to  see,  for  the  first  time,  one  of  these  icy 
masses  floating^  so  far  to  the  southward.     I  learnt 
' a  g — — 


■'T' 
-•■i. 

#" 


,»ii 


.-:s;ni5g:;Si»iSKM*6Ka 


V 


6 


DRIFT   ICE. 


[Chap.  I. 


from  our  captain  that  last  year,  June,  1844,  he  fell 
in  with  an  iceberg  aground,  at  some  distance  from 
the  land  off  Cape  Race,  on  the  S.E.  poinf'of  New- 
foundland, in  lat.  46°  40'  N.    It  was  of  a  square 
shape,  100  feet  high,  and  had  stranded  in  a  sea  of 
some  depth;  for  its  sides  were  steep,  and  soundings 
of  fifty  fathoms  were  obtained  close  to  the  ice.     It 
was  seen  at  the  same  spot  ten  days  afterwards  by  a 
brig.     A  military  officer  on  board  also  tells  me  that 
last  year,  when  he  was  in  garrison  in  Newfoundland, 
an  iceberg  continued  aground  in  the  harbour  of  St. 
John's  for  a  year,  and  they  used  to  fire  cannon-balls 
at  it  from  the  battery.     There  are,  indeed,  innumer- 
able well-authenticated  cases  of  these  islands  of  float- 
ing ice  having  stranded  on  the  great  oceanic  shoals 
S.  E.  of  Newfoundland,  even  in  places  where  the 
water  is  no  less  than  100  fathoms  deep,  the  ayerage 
depth  over  the  Great  Bank"  being  from  forty  to  fifty 
fathoms.      That  they  should  be   arrested  in  their 
course  is  not  surprising,  when  we  consider  that  the 
mass  of  floating  ice  below  water  is  eight  times  greater 
than  that  above ;  and  Sir  James  Ross  saw  icebergs 
which  had  run  aground  in  Baffin's  Bay,  in  water 
1500  feet  deep.    If  we  reflect  on  the  weight  of  these 
enormous  masses,  and  the  momentum  which  they 
acquire  when  impelled  by  winds  and  currents,  and 
when  they  are  moving  at  the  rate  of  several  miles  an 
hour,  it  seems  difficult  to  over-estimate  the  disturb- 
ance which  they  must  create  on  a  soft  bottom  of  mud 
or  loose  sand,  or  the  grinding  power  they  must  exert 
when  they  grate  along  a  shelf  of  solid  rock  over- 
mpread  with  a  layer  of  sand. 


[ 


t 


IT^.   -^     ^nt  ,Y',  •*. 


i-\    '  -tp        ''<'  ■"'anr 


Chap.  I.] 


ICE  AND  GULF   STREAM. 


Mr.  Kedfield  of  New  York  has  lately  published*  sT 
chart  showing  the  positions  of  the  icebergs  observed  in 
the  North  Atlantic  during  the  last  fifteen  years,  and 
it  will  be  remarked,  that  they  have  been  met  with  at 
yarious  points  between  the  47th  and  36th  parallels  of 
latitude,  the  most  southern  being  that  which  Captain 
Couthuoy  encountered,  lat.  36°  10'  N.,  long.  39°  W.,  a 
mile  long  and  one  hundred  feet  hiaiu    This  berg  was 
on  the  extreme  southern  bounda^^f  the  gulf  stream, 
which  it  had  crossed  against  the  direction  of  the 
superficial  current,  so  as  to  get  as  far  south  as  the 
latitude  of  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar.     In  fact,  these 
great  ice-islands  coming  from  the  Greenland  seas  are 
not  stopped  by  the  gulf  stream,  which  is  a  mere 
superficial  current  of  warmer  water  flowing  in  an 
opposite  direction,  but  are  borne  along  from  N.  E.  to 
S.  W.  by  the  force  of  the  arctic  under-current,  con- 
sisting of  colder  water,  into  which  the  icebergs  descend 
to  a  great  depth. 

All  the  circumstances  connected  Avith  the  geo- 
graphical outline  of  the  coast,  the  shape  of  the  sea- 
bottom,  the  oceanic  currents,  and  the  prevailing 
winds,  although  liable  to  be  modified  and  greatly 
altered  in  the  course  of  time,  may  continue  nearly 
the  same  for  the  next  ten  thousand  or  twenty  thou- 
sand years ;  and  in  that  period  thousands  of  bergs, 
occasionally  chargjed  with  fragments  of  rock,  and 
many  of  them  running  aground  in  a  variety  of  places, 
will  be  conveyed  in  every  century  over  certain  tracts 
of  the  Atlantic,  and  in  given  directions.  The  natural 
course  of  oceanic  Jfei^ents  transporting  ice  from  polar 
*  Amer.  Journ.  Science,  vol.  xlviii.  1844. 

13 

-„ . -y^^ 


d 


DRIFTING  ^F  IC£BEB6S. 


[Chap.  L 


regions  is  from  N.E.  to  S.W.;  the  westerly  inclina- 
tion being  due  to  the  influence  of  the  increased  velo- 
city of  the  diurnal  Totation  of  the  earth's  surface  as 
we  proceed  southwards.  Now  it  is  a  well-known  fact, 
an(l  one  of  great  geological  interest,  which  I  had  an 
opportunity  of  verifying  myself  in  1842*,  that  in 
Canada  the  polished  surfaces  of  hard  rocks  exhibit 
those  striae  and  straight  parallel  grooves  (such  as  are 
generally  ascribed  to  glacial  actipn)  in  a  N.E.  and 
S.  W.  direction,  and  the  blocks  called  erratic  have  also 
travelled  from  N.E.  to  S.W.  Their  course,  there- 
fore, agrees,  as  Mr.  Redfield  has  pointed  out,  with  the 
normal  direction  of  polar  currents  charged  with  i<3b, 
where  no  disturbing  causes  have  intervened.  In  order 
to  account  for  the  phenomenon,  we  have  to  suppose 
that  Canada  was  submerged^at  the  time  when  the  rocks 
were  polished  and  striated  by  the  grating  of  the  ice  on 
the  ancient  sea-bottom ;  and  that  this  was  actually  the 
case,  is  proved  by  independent  evidence,  namely,  the 
occurrence  of  marine  shells  of  recent  species  at  various 
heights  above  the  level  of  the  sea  in  the  region  drained 
by  the  St.  Lawrence,  f  Pfofessor  Hitchcock  has 
shown  that,  in  Massachusetts,  there  is  another 
system  of  strisa  and  grooves  running  from  N.  N.  £.  to 
S.  S.  W. ;  the  boulders  and  transported-  blocks  of  the 
saoie  region  haVing  taken  a  corresponding  course, 
doubtless,  in  consequence  of  the  floating  icebergs 
having,  in  that  case,  been  made  by  winds  or  currents, 
or  the  shape  of  the  land  and  sea-bottom,  to  deviate^ 
from  the  normal, direction,  i 

•  See  "  Lyeir^  Travels  in  North  America,"  vol.  ii.  p.  135. 
t  Ibid,  vol.  ii.  p.  148. m^ 


)' 


,«6 

V 


Chaf.  I.]        COAST  OP   NEWFOUNDLAND.  9 

Many  of  the  icebergs  annually  drifted  into  southern 
latitudes  in,  tJja  Atlantic,  ar^  covered  with  seals, 
which    are   thus^^ought  into    very   uncongenial 
climates,  and  probatHy  arernever  abl^  to  make  tj^eir 
■way  back  again.     They  are  often  smi  playing  about 
the  rocks  on  the  shores  of  Massachusetts  in  summer, 
90  that  they  seem  able,  for  a  tune  at  least,' to  acco;n-- 
modate  themselves  to  considerable  heat. 
-   f^ly  on  the  morning  of  the  15th  of  September, 
tha.oaptain  got  sight  of  land,  cdnsisting  ef  J;he  hills  > 
near  St.  John's,  Newfoundland,  aj^ut  f(ffty  miles 
distant.     Whea  we  came  on  deck,  we  were  runninV 
^pidly  in  smooth  water  along  the  shore,  within  four 
riiiles    of   Trepassey   Bay.     The    atmosphere    was 
bright,  and  we  had  a.  clear  view  of  the  rocky  coast, 
which  reminded  me  of  some  of  the  most  sterile,  cold, 
and  treeless  parts  of  Scotland.     Not  even  a  sihrHb 
appedved  to  vary  the  uniform  covering  of  green  turf; 
yet  w6;  were  in  a  latitudexorreeponding  to  the  South 
of  France. 

In  a  lai^e  steam-ship  like  the  Britannia,  there  are 
three  very  distinct  societies,  whose '"employments 
during  the  voyage  are  singularly  contrasted.  There 
ire  the  sailors,  all  of  whom  were  fully  occupied  under 
their  officers,^ for  a  time  at  least,  durin'g  the  gale, 
furling  the  sails  and  attending  to  the  ordinary  duties 
of  a  sailing  ship.  Then  ihere  is  the  salooij,  where 
gentlemen  and  well-dressed  ladies  are  seen  lounging 
and  reading  books,  or  talking,  or  playing  backgam- 
mon, and  enjoying,  except  during  a  hurricane,'  the 
luxuries  and  expejtisive  fare  of  a  large  hotel.  In 
-!^^'^'!  "ff^"*"^  room,  wtich  I  had  the  ^curiosity  to 


y 


J 


4 


a  5 


:!*?■ 


"smr 


'      ) 


f 


%.. 


%:" 


10 


JCNOINE'KOOM  OF   A  STEAMER.       [Chaf.  I. 


visit  after  the  storm,  is  a  large  corps  of  jepgine-inen 
and  fire-men,  with  sooty  faces  and  soiled  0t^hes» 
pale  with  heat,  heaping  up  coals  on  the  great  fur* 
naces,   or  regukimg  the  machinery.     On  visiting 
the  lai^e  engine-room,  we  were  filled  with  admi- 
ration at  seeing  the  Complicated  apparatus,  and  the 
ease  with  which  it  moved,  having  never  once  stopped 
for  a  minute  when  traversing  3000  miles  of  ocean, 
although  the  vessel  had  been  pitching  and  rollings 
and  sometimes  quivering,  as  she  was  forced  by  tl\( 
power  of  the  steam  against  the  opposing  waves^  and 
although  the  ship  had  sometimes  heeled  at  a  very 
high  angle,  especially  when  struck  suddenly  by  the 
squall  of  the  14th.     The  engine  is  so  placed  near  the 
centre  of  the  ship,  that  during  a  storm  the  piston  "is 
never  inclined  at  a  higher  angle  than  twelve  degrees, 
which  does  not  d^nge  the  freedom  of  jts  motion. 
The  Britannia,  «§wnip  of  1200  tons,~hJas  four  large 
Uoilers;  the   engines  having    a  440   horse    power. 
When  she  left  Liverpool  she  had  550  tons  of  coal 
in  her,  and  burnt  from  thirty  to  forty  tons  a  day,  her 
speed  augmenting  sensibly  towards  the  end  of  the 
voyage,  as  she  gi'ew  lighter :  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  vibration  caused   by  the   machinery  increasing 
also,  much  t6  the  daspomfort,  of  the  passengers. 

Among  the  wonders  of  the  ®^g^^^^^>  ^^  object 
made  so  lively  an^Nnpression  on  p^y||fl^^  a  sm 
dial,  called  the  Indicator,  where  sj^pf^SI  that  o: 
a  clock,  moving  round  in  a  circle,  registers  the  num- 
ber of,  revolutions  made  by  the  wheels  of  the  engine 
during  the  whole  voyage  ;  this  hand  or  index  being 
shed  to  one  of  the  moving  shafts,  and  made  to 


'h 


^.. 


■■f 


Chap.  I.]        .IMSVOLUTIONS  OF  ENOINE.  1^ 

advance  slightly  by /every  stroke.     We  were  going 
*  at  the  time  at  the  rate  of^ten  and  a  half  miles  an 

hour,  and  the  paddle*wh^  were  revolving  fifteen 

and  a  half  times  a  minute ;  but  during  the  gale  they 
j^had  only  made  six^tgeven  revolutions,  the  engineer, 

*  I  avoid  too  great  fi  i^train  on  the  machinery,  having 
len  burnt  much  less  cod,  and  going  no  more  than 

lalf  speed.  Our  shortest  "Say's  sail,  during  the  whole 
voyage,  was  114  miles.  ^  I  observed,  on  our  arrival 
at  Boston,  that  the  number  of  revolutions  registered 
by  the  Indicator  was  275,122,  the  ship  having  run  ^ 
2946  miles  infourteer/  days  and  twenty-two  hoU^s; 
the  distance  from  Liverpool  to  Halifax  being  25^0 
miles,  and  from  thenCfp  to  Boston  396.  For  the  sake 
of  comparing  thia.  result  with  former  voyages  of  the 
Britannia,  I  made  the  foU^^^g  extract  from  the  Lc^ 
Book  of  the  ch^ef  engineer :  —  *^ 


;  — viiSSp' 


Outward  Voyage,  May  1845 
Homeward  June 

Outward  July 

Homeward  August 


Number  of  ReTolutions    Length  of  Voyiige 
of  the  Engines. 


273,328 
253,073 
282,409 
292,122 


14  days 

18 
14 


l2  hours. 
8 

.2 


It  is  remarkable  how  ne^irly  the  namber  of  strokes 
made  by  the  engine  in  our  present  voyage  agrees 
with  those  recorded  , in  the  voyage  of  lasli  May, 
which  it  will  be  seen  was  of  the  same  length,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  hours,  the  longer  voyage 
exhibiting  a  slight  excess  in  the  number  of  revolu- 
tions.    In  all  the  four  trips,  the  difference  between 

.1         1*1  «    1 


■ 

B»6 

tuiuuuio  iv 

»  uu  m 

ore 

1 

1 

% 

- 

k 

■          ^^     1 

1 

i« 

• 

*** 

*_ 

■  \ 

/ 

y.  . 

.■■>•*     ■ 

X  5- 


^^ 


•-fw?»->ssr»*-. 


""^WiSif 


Vi-' 


i'    -^        ..V 


V    ■ 


^ 


.   ^ 


4 

12 


C00UE8   IN  THE   WEST   INDIES.       [ChaP. 


than  a  aeveiith  or  eighth  of  the  whole.  It  is  like 
the  regular  pulsation  of  the  heart,  beating  a  given 
number  of  times  in  a  minute;  the  pulse  quicken- 
ing during  excitement  and  more  rapid  motion,  and 
being  slower  when  in  comparative  rest,  yet  on  the 
whole  preserving  a  remarkable  uniformity  of  action. 
Nor  oaif  any  one  in  full  health  and  vigour  be  more 
unconscious  of  the  rapid  contractions  and  dilatations 
of  the  heart,  than  are  nearly  all  the  inmates  of  the 
steam-ship  of  the  complicated  works  and  movements 
of  the  machinery,  on  the  accuracy  of  which  their 
progress  and  safety  depend.  . 

In  the  course  of  the  last  twelve  months,  the 
steamers  on  this  line  h|»ve  sometimes  taken  as  much  as 
seventeen,  and  even  twenty-one  days,  to  make  their 
passage  against  head  winds  by  Halifax  to  Btfston  ; 
but  the  comparative  advantage  of  steam  power  is 
never  more  evident  than  at  the  period  of  the  most 
tedious  voyages,  the  liners  having  required  seventy 
days  er  more  to  cross  in  corresponding  seasons. 

I>bring  the  passage  we  had  some  animated  discus- 
sions in  the  saloon  on  the  grand  experiment  now 
making  by  the  British  government,  of  importing 
Coolies^  or  Hindoo  emigrants,  from  the  Deccan  into  ■» 
the  West  Jndies,  to  make  up  for  the  deficiency  of 
Negro  labour  consequent  on  the  emancipation  of  the 
slaves.  Wo  had  on  board  a  Liverpool  merchant, 
who  had  a  large  contract  for  conveying  those  Coolies 
across  the  dcean,  and  who  told  us  tliat  more  than 
forty  ships  would  be  employed  this  year  (1846)  in 
carrying  each  300  Hindoo  labourers  to  Jamaica,  at 
the  oost  of  16/.  per  head,  «nd  that  he  should  sell  the 


Chap.  I.]      COOLIES  IN  THE  WEST  INDIES.  18 

casks,  which  contained  the  water  for  their  drink,  for 
the  sugar  trade  in  the  West  Indies.  The  New 
Englandera  on  board  wished  to  know  how  far  this 
proceeding  differed  from  a  new  slave  trade.  It  was 
explained  to.  them  that  the  emigrants  were  starving 
in  their  own  country ;  that  the  act  was  a  voluntary 
one  on  their  part ;  a^  that,  after  a  short,  term  of 
years,  the  government  was  bound  to  give  them  a 
free  passage  back  to  their  native  country.  Of  this 
privilege  many,  after  saving  a  sum  of  money,  had 
actually  availed  tliemselves.  It  was  also  alleged  that 
they  made  good  agricultural  labourers  in  a  tropical 
climate.  The  Americans  replied,  that  to  introduce 
into  any  colony  two  distinct  races,  having  different 
languages  and  religions,  such  as  Negroes  and  Hin- 
doos, is  a  curse  of  the  greatest  magnitude,  and  of 
the  .most  lasting  kind,  as  experience  had"  proved 
throughout  the*  Artterlcan  continent. 

A  Barbadoes  planter,  who  was  present,  declared 
his  opinion  that  in  his  island  the  emancipation  of  the 
Negroes  had  been  successful ;  the  population,  about 
120,000,  being  dense,  and  a  large  proportion  of  them 
having  white  blood  in  their  veins,  with  many  of  the 
wants  of  millsod  men,  and  a  strong  wish  to  educate 
their  chlldfen.     The  Americans,  however,  drew  from 
him  the  admission,  that  in  proportion  as  the  coloured 
people  were   rising   in   sooi(3,ty,   the  whites,  whose 
aristocratic  feelings  and  tastes  were  wounded  by  the 
increased  importance  of  the  inferior  race,  wer«  leav- 
ing Barbadoes,  the  richest   of  thoiii   retreating   to 
Enghuid,  and  the  poor  seeking' thoir  fortunes  in  the 
United  Stotee.    It  was  alao  oonoeded,  th>t  in  th« 


is   'f. 


f.,VJ,f"^j?    '-"5"fl 


14 


HALIFAX. 


[Chap.  I. 


larger  Islands,  such  as  Jamaica,  which  the  Anjericans 
compared  to  their  Southern  States,  the  Negroes  have 
retreated  to  unoccupied  lands  and  squatted,  find  could 
not  be  induced  to  labour,  and  were  therefore  retro- 
grading in  civilisation ;  so  that  the  experience  of 
more  thanij|ten  years  would  be  required  before  the 
Americans  could*  feel  warranted  in  imitating  the 
example  of  England,  even  if  they  had  the  means  of 
indemnifying  the  Soutiiern  planters. 

We  landed  at  Halifax  on  the  17th  of  September, 
and  spent  some  hours'  there  very  agreeably,  much^     - 
refreshed  by  a  walk  on  terra  firma,  and  glad  to  caH*Li. 
on  some  friends  in  the  town.    I  was  surprised  to  finrf'^ 
that  some  of  our  fellow-passengers,  bound  for  Molil"?^  * 
treal,  intended  to  go  on  with  us  to  Boston,  instead 
of  stopping  here  ;  so  great  are  the  facilities  now  en- 
joyed of  travelling  from  New  England  to  Canada, 
passing  via  Boston  by  railway  to  Albany,  and  thence 
by  steam-boats  through  Lakes  George  and  Champlain 
to  Montreal. 

The  chief  subject  of  conversation,  during  the  re- 
maining two  days  of  our  voyage,  was  the  death  of 
Judge  Story,  the  eminent  jurist,  whose  works  and 
decisions  have  been  often  cited  as  of  high  authority 
by  English  judges.  The  news  of  tills  unexpected 
event  reached  us  at  Halifax,  and  was  evidently  a 
matter  of  doo[)  concern  to  .his  fellow  citizens,  by 
whom  ho  hud  been  much  loved  and  admired.  While 
still  on  the  bench  of  the  Suprcino'Court  at  Washing- 
ton, Story  was  phiccd  at  the  head  of  the  Law  School 
in  Harvard  University,  which  he  soon  raised  to  cele- 


n  !^,T-.g5:.- 


Cha*.  I.] 


JUDGE   STORY. 


15 


brity  frdm  small  beginnings,  drawing  students  to  his 
lectures  from  every  State  of  the  Union. 

I  afterwards  read,  in  the  newspapers  of  Boston, 
several  funeral  orations  pronounced  in  hrs  honour, 
some  from  the  pulpit,  by  preachers  of  his  own  de- 
nomination (he  was  president  of  the  Unitarian  As- 
sociation), which  praised  him  for  his  pure,  scriptural, 
and  liberal  Christianity,  and  repres^ted  him  as  an 
earnest  defender  of  the  faith,  one  who  had  given  to 
its  evidences  that  accurate  investigation,  which  his 
reflecting  rnrnd"  "and" pfofessionat  habits  demanded. 
"  What  he  found  to  be  true,  he  was  never  ashamed 
or  afraid  to  declare.  He  valued  the  Gospel  and  felt 
his  own  need  of  its  restraining  and  consoling  power, 
alike  in  temptation  and  grief,"  &c. 

But  eloquent  eulogies  were  not  wanting  from  mi- 
nisters of  some  of  the  other  churches,  usually  called 
in  New  England,  by  way  of  distinction  from  the 
Unitarian,  "  orthodox,"  some  of  which  displayed  at 
once  the  intensity  and  liberality  of  sectarian  feeling 
in  this  country.  They  did  hpmage  to  his  talents  and 
the  uprightness  of  his  conduct,  and  they  dealt  with 
his  theological  opinions  in  the  spirit  of  Dryden's 
beautiful  linos :  — 

"  The  soul  of  Arcilfi  went  wlioro  lienthenB  go, 
Who  better  live  tlmn  we,  though  less  they  know." 

I  will  extract,  from  one  of  the  most  favourable  of 
these  effusions,  the  following  passages : 

"Judge  Story  was  a  Christian  who  professed  a 
firm  belief  in  tlie  Bible  jis  a  revelation  from  God. 
He  was  a  Unitarian  ;  but  if  ho  reposed  in  the  divine 


; 


'fr- 

I 


is  "  -  I- 


16 


BOSTON. 


[Chap.  I. 


taercy  through  the  mediatioa  of  Christ,  and  if  he 
came  with  the  temper  of  a  child  to  the  Scriptures,  I 
have  no  doubt  he  has  been  received  of  Him  to  whom, 
in  his  last  wor48,.he  committed  himself  in  prayer  • 
and,  had  he  been  more  orthodox  in  his  creed  without 
the  Christian  spirit  and  the  Christian  life,  his  ortho- 
doxy would  not  have  saved  him." 

Sept.  19.— Early  in  th^  morning  of  the  fifteenth 
day  from  our  leaving  Liverpool,  we  came. in  sight  of 
the  lighthouse  of  Cape  Anne,  and  a  small  and  gaily 
painted  green  schooner,  in  full  sail,  and  scudding 
l;apidly  through  the  water,  brought  us  a  pilot.     In  a 
few  hours  the  long  line  of  coast  became  more  and 
more  distinct,  till  Salem,  Nahant,  Lynn,  the  harbour 
ot  Boston  and  its  islands,  and  at  last  the  dome  of  the 
t^tate  House,  crowning  the  highest  eminence,  came 
tul  mto  view.     To  us  the  most  novel  feature  in  the 
architectural  aspect  of  the  city,  was  the  Bunker  Hill 
monument,  which  had  been  erected  since  1842-  the 
form  of  wiiich,  as  it  resembles  an  Egyptian  obelisk, 
and  possibly  because  I  had  seen  that  form  imitated 
in  some  of  our  tall  factory  chimnies,  gave  me  no 
pleasure. 

After  the  cloudy  and  stormy  weather  we  had  en- 
countered  in  the  Atlantic,  and  the  ice  and  fogs  seen 
near  the  great  banks,  we  were  delighted  with  the 
clear  atmosphere  and  bright  sunshine  of  Boston,  and 
heard  with  surprise  of  the  intense  heat  of  the  sum- 
iner  of  which  many  persons  had  lately  died,  especially 
in  New  York,  The  extremes,  indeed,  of  heat  and 
cold  m  this  country,  arc  truly  remarkable.  Looking 
into  th^  windows  of  a  print  shop,  I  saw  an  engraving 


f*,n  *" 


Chap.  I.]  SEVERE  FROST  AT  BOSTON. 


17 


of  our  good  ship,  the  Britannia,  which  we  had  just 
quitted,  represented  as  in  the  act  of  forcing  her  way 
through  the  ice  of  Boston  harbour  in  the  winter  of 
1844, — a  truly  arctic  scene.     A  fellow-passenger,  a 
merchant  from  New  York,  where  they  are  jealous 
of  the  monopoly  hitherto  enjoyed  by  their  NewEng-. 
land  riva,l,  of  a  direct  and  regular  steam  communi- 
cation with  Europe,  remarked  to  me   that  if  the 
peopl?  of  Boston  had  been  wise,  they  wduld  never 
have  encouraged  the  publication  of  tljis  print,  as  it 
was  a  clear  proof  that  the  British  government  should 
rather  have  selected  New  York,  where  the  sea  never 
freezes,  as  the  fittest  port  for  the  mail  packets.   I'had 
heard  much  during  the,  voyage  of  this  strange  ad- 
venture of  the  Britannia  in  the  ice.     Last  winter  it 
appears  there  had  been  a  frost  of  unusual  intensity, 
such  as  had  not  been  known  for  more  than  half  a 
century,  ^^hich  caused  the  sea  to  be  frozen  over  in 
the  harbour  of  Boston,  although  the  water  is  as  salt 
there  as  in   mid-ocean.      Moreover,,  the   tide   runs 
there  at  the  rate  of  four  or  five  miles  an  hour,  rising 
twelve  feet,  and  causing  the  whole  body  of  the  ice 
to  be  uplifted  and  let  down  again  to  that  amount 
twice  every  twenty-four  hours.    Notwithstanding  this 
movement,  the  surface  remained  even  and  unbroken, 
except  along  the  shore,  where  it  cracked. 

Had  the  continuance  of  this  frost  been  anticipated, 
it  would  have  been  easy  to  keep  open  a  passage ;  but 
on  the  Ist  of  February,  when  the  Britannia  was  ap- 
pointed to  sail,  it  was  found  tliat  the  ice  was  seven 
feet  thick  in  the  wharf,  and  two  foet  thick  for  a  dis- 
tance of  seven  miles  out ;  so  that  waggons  and  carU 


\ 


4355*  V  ' 


■y  /"t  ^    T\7r- 


"      I 


'-i 


18 


SEVERE  FROST  *AT  BOSTON.         [Chap.  I. 


S^ ; 


were  conveying  cotton  and  other  freights  from  the 
shore  to  the  edge  of  the  ice,  where  ships  were  takmg 
in  their  cargoes.     No  sooner  was  it  understood  that 
the  mail  was  imprisoned,  than  the  public  spirit  of  the 
whole  city  was  roused,  and  a  large  sum  of  money 
instantly  subscribed  for  cutting  a  canal,  seven  miles 
long  and  100  feet  wide,  through  the  ice.    They  began 
th^  operation  by  making  two  straight  furrows,  seven 
inches  deep,  with  an  ice  plough  dra\irn  by  horses,  and 
Vthen  sawed  the  ice  into  square  sheets,  each  100  feet 
in  diameter.     When  these  were  detached,  they  were 
made  to  slide,  by  meanp  of  iron  hooks  and  ropes  fixed 
to  them,  under  the  great  body  of  the  ice,  one  edge 
being  first  depressed,  and  the  ropes  being  pulled  by  a 
team  of  horses,  and  occasionally  by  a  body  of  fifty 
men.     On  the  3d  of  February,  only  two  days  after 
her  time,  the  steamer  sailed  out,  breaking  through  a 
newly  formed  sheet  of  ice,  two  inches  thick,  her  bows 
being  forlified  with  iron  to  protect  her  copper  sheet- 
ing.    She  burst  through  the  ice  at  the  rate  of  seven 
miles  an  hour  without  much  damage  to  her  paddles ; 
but  before  she  was  in  clear  water,  all  her  guard  of 
iron  had  been  torn  off)     An  eye-witness  of  the  scene 
told  me  that  tents  liad  been  pitched  on  the  ice,  then 
covered  by  a  flight  full  of  snow,  and  a  concourse  of 
people  followed  and  cheered  for  the  first  mile,  some 
in  sleijghs,  others  iq  sailing  boats  fitted  up  with  long 
blades  of  iron,  like  skates,  by  means  of  which  they 
»re  ^rgcd  rapidly  along  by  their  sails,  not  only  be- 
foriy  the  wind,  but  even  with  a  side  wind,  tacking 
an4   beating   to  windv*ird  as  if  they  Vcre  in  the 
wAtor. 


y 


Chap.  L] 


CUSTOM-HOUSE   OFFICERS. 


19 


The  Britannia,  released  from  her  bonds,  reached 
Liverpool  jn  fifteen  jdays,  so  that  no  alarm  had  been 
occasioned  by  the  delay ;  and  when  the  British  Post- 
Office  department  offered  to  defray  the  expense  of 
the  ice-channel,  the  citizens  of  Boston  declined  to  be 
reimbursed. 

We  were  not  detained  more  than^  an  hour  in  the 
Custom-house,  although  the  number  of  our  packages 
was  great.  In  that  hour  the  newspapers  which  had 
come  out  with  us  had  been  so  rapidly  distributed, 
that  our  carriage  was  assailed  in  the  streets  by  a  host 
of  vociferous  boys,  calling  out,.  ""FifMen  days  later 
from  Europe," — "  The  Tzmei  'and  Funch  just  re- 
ceived by  the  Britannia."  In  the  course  of  my 
travels  in  the  United  States  I  heard  American  poli- 
ticians complwning  of  the  frequent  change  of  officials, 
high  and  low,  as  often  a^  a  new  party  comes  into 
power.  In  spite  of  this  practice,  however,  the  Cus- 
tom-house officers,  greatly  to  the  comfort  of  the 
public,  belong  to  a  higher  grade  of  society  than  those 
at  Liverpool  and  our  principal  ports. ,  I  asked  a 
New  England  friend,  who  was  well  acquainted  with 
the  "  Old  Country,"  whether  the  subordinates  here 
are  more  highly  ,  paid  'i  "  By  no  means,"  he  re- 
plied. "  The  difference,  then,"  said  I,  "  must  be 
owing  to  the  better  education  given  to  all  in  your 
public  schools?"  "  Perhaps,  in  some  degree,"  he  re- 
joined ;  "  but  far  more  to  the  peculiarity  of  our  insti- 
tutions. Recent  examples  are  not  wanting  of  men 
who  have  passed  in  a  few  years  from  the  chief  place 
in  one  of  our  groat  custom-houses  to  a  seat  in  the 
Cabinet  or  an  aj)pointment  as  ambastjador  to  a  first- 


:/ 


--^■nffl 


L 


^ 


I 


•', 


\  1 


20 


CUSTOM-HOUSE  OFFICERS.  [Chap.  I. 


rate  European  power;  but  what  is  far  more  to  the 
point,  men  who  are  unsuccessful  at  the  bar  or  the 
church,  often  accept  inferior  stations  in  the  Custom- 
house and  other  public  offices  without  loss  of  social 
position."     This  explanation  led  me  to  reflect  how 
much  the  British  public  might  gain  if  a  multitude  of 
the  smaller  places  in  the  public  service  at  home,  now 
slighted  by  aristocratic  prejudices  as  ungenteel,  were 
filled   by  those  gentlemen  who,  after  being  highly 
educated  at  Eton  and  other  public  schools,  lead  now 
a  pastoral  life  in  Australia,  or  spend  their  best  days 
in  exile  far  from  their  kindred  and  native  land,  as 
soldiers  or  sailors,  within  the  tropics. 


^ 


T'A^P^J'', •»« -—1-  ■*■*« 


Chap,  II.]  HORTICULT^URAL   SHp^. 


21 


10 

*  5 


CHAP.  II. 

Boston.  —  Horticultural  Show  in  Faneuil  Hall.  —  Iteview  of 
Militia.— Peace  Association.— JSxcursion  to  the  White  Moun- 
tains.-Railtvay  Travelling.— Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire. 
—  Geology,  Fossils  in  Drift.  —  Submarine  Forest,  —  Wild 
Plants:  Asters,  Solidagos,  Poison  Ivy.  — Swallows.  —  Glacial 
Grooves. — Rocks  transported  by  Antarctic  Ice.  — Body  of  a 
Whale  discovered  by  an  American  Trader  in  an  Iceberg. 

Great  progress  has  been  made  in  beautifying  the 
xity  of  Boston  by  new  public  buildings  in  the  three 
^ears  since  we  were  last  here.  Several  of  these  are 
constructed  of  granite,  in  a  handsome  style  of  archi- 
tecture. The  site  of  the  town  is  almost  an  island, 
which  has  been  united  to  the  main  land  by  long 
mounds,  which  are  beginning  to  radiate  in  all  direc- 
tions, except  the  east,  like  the  spokes  of  a  wheel. 
Railway  trains  are  seen  continually  flying  to  and  fro 
along  these  narrow  causeways  at  all  hour^  of  the 
day. 

On  the  evening  of  our  arrival  we  went  to  a  hor- 
ticultural show  of  fruit  and  flowers  in:  Faneuil  Hall, 
where  we  found  a  large  assembly  of  botli  sexes  en- 
joying a  "  temperance  feast,"  a  band  of  music  in  the 
gallery,  and  the  table  spread  with  cakes,  fruit,  ices, 
tea,  milk,  and  whey.  I  was  glad  to  observe,  what 
I  am  told,  however,  is  an  innovation  here,  that  the 
ladies,  instead  of  merely  looking  on  from  a  gallery  to 
see  the  gentleman  eat,  were  sitting  at  table  in  the 


\'i 


i^ 


MydMa^;^,,A.j.^.,vii.w. . 


^mf^^m 


22 


REVIEW   OF   MILITIA, 


[Chap.  II. 


body  of  the  ^all,  and  Kstening  to  some  of  the  first 
orators  of  the  land^  Daniel  Webster,  R.  C.  Win- 
throp,  and  our  friend  and  late  fellow-voyager,  in  the 
Britannia,  Edward  Everett,  whose  reception,  on  his 
return  from  his  embassy  to  England,  was  most  en- 
thusiastic He  said,  *^  he  had  been  so  lately  rocking 
on  the  Atlantic,  whose  lullaby  ^as  not  always  of 
the  gentlest,  that  he  was  hardly  ^t  for  rocking  in 
^the  old  cradle  of  Liberty;'  and  felt  almost  uncon- 
/sciously  inclined  to  catch  at  the  table  to  ^tfeady  him- 
self, expecting  to  see  the  flowers  and  t^e^uit  fetch 
away  in  some  lee-lurch.  Even  the  pj^^^  of  old 
Faneuil  Hall,  which  are  not  often  found-but  of  the 
true  plumb-line,  seemed  to  reel  over  his  head?' 

Allusion  was  here*  made  to  this  Hall  having  been 
the  place  of  large  popular  meetings  before  1775, 
where  American  patriotism  was  first  roused  to  make 
a  stand  agamst  the  claims  of %ie, mother-country  to 
impose  taxes  without  consent  of  th"e  provincial  legis- 
lature. In  later  days,  the  building  being  under 
the  control  of  the  city  authorities,  and  the  Whigs 
being  usually  in  the  ascendant  here,  the  moderate 
party  have  almost  always  obtained  possession  of  the 
Hall. 

Sept.  23.— From  the  windows  of  a  friend's  house, 
opening  on  the  Common,  we  have  a  full  view  of 
what  is  called  the  «  Fall  Parade,"  or  autumnal  re- 
view of  the  Boston  militia,  cavalry  and  infantry, 
which  has  lasted  all  day,  ending  with  a  sham  fight 
and  much  firing  of  cannon.  Not  that  there  is  any 
excess  of  military  fervour  in  this  State,  aa  in  some 
others  at  the  present  moment ;  on  the  contrary,  a 


<5APjJfT  PEACE   ASSOCIATION.  23 

numerous  and  increasing  Peace  Association  is.  dis- 
tributing, gratis,  many  thousand  copies-of  a  recent 
Fourth-of-July  oration  against  war  and  military  esta- 
blishments, delivered  by  Mr.  Charles  Sumnef.  I  was 
asked  by  a  young  friend  here,  in  full  uniform,  wheth^ 
I  did  not  think  "  Independence-day"  (an  anniversary 
when  all  who  have  a  regimental  costume  are  accus- 
tomed to  wear  it),  a  most  inappropriate  time  for  such 
an  effusion,  in  which  non-resistance  principles  border- 
ing on  Quakerism  had  been  avowed ;  the  orator  ask- 
ing, among  other  questions,  "  What  is  the  use  of  the  : 
militia  of  the  United  States?"  and  going  as  far  as 
Channing  in  pronouncing  war  to  be  unchristian. 

I  remembered  having  once  admired  the  present " 
Bishop  of  St.  Asaph  for  choosing  a  certain  day, 
set  apart  by  the  English  Church  for  commemorat- 
»ng  t|e  "  conspiracy,  malicious  practices,  and  Popish 
tyratiiiy  of  the  Romanists,"  for  preaching  a  sermon 
on  religious  toleration;  and  I  therefore  felt  some 
hesitation  in  condemning  the  opportunity  seized  upon 
by  an  enthusiast  of  the  peace  party  for  propagating 
his  views. 


%' 


"  There  is  a  soul  of  goodness  in  tbings  evil 
Would  men  observingly  distil  it  ou(." 

So  long  as  the  War  of  Independence  lasted,  I  can 
understand  the  policy  of  annually  reading  out  to  the 
assembled  multitude  the  celebrated  "  Declaration," 
setting  forth  the  injuries  inflicted  by  Great  Britain, 
her  usurpations  previous  to  the  year  1776,  "her  de- 
sign to  reduce  the  Americans  to  a  state  of  absolute 


<!' 


' ,  'i 


..■"*'■ 


?,  X 


'  ;     V 


24 


THE   "  DECLAEATIOSf."  [Chap.  IL 


dependence  by  quartering  armed  troops  upon  the 
people  — refusing  to  make  the  judges  independent  of 
the  crown  —  imposing  taxes  without  consent  of 
the  colonies  —  depriving  them  of  trial  by  jury — 
sometimes  suspending  their  legislatures  —  waging 
war  against  the  colonies,  and  transporting  to  their 
shores  large-  armies  of  foreign  mercenaries  to  com- 
plete the  work  of  death,  desolaiion,  and  tyranny  al- 
'  i«ady  begun,  with  circumstances  of  cruelty  and  perfidy 
scarcely  paralleled  in  the  most  barbarous  ages  —  ex- 
citing domestic  insurrections  —  bringing  on  the  in- 
habitants of  the  frontiers  the  merciless  Indian  savages, 
whose  known  rule  of  warfare  is  the  destruction  of  all 
ages,  sexes,  and  conditions,"  &c.  &c. 

All  this  recital  may  have  been  expedient  when  the 
great  struggle  for  liberty  and  national  existence  was 
still  pending  ;•  but  what  effect  can  it  have  now,  but 
to  keep  alive  bad  feelings,  and  perpetuate  the  memory 
of  what  should  nearly  be  forgotten  ?  In  many  of  the 
newer  States  the  majority  of  the  entire  population  , 
have  either  themselves  come  out  from  the  British 
Isles  as  new  settlers,  or  are  the  children  or  grand- 
children of  men  who  emigrated  since  the  "  Declara- 
tion" was  drawn  up.  If,  therefore,  they  pour  out 
in  schools,  or  at  Fourth-of-July  meetings^  declamatory 
and  warlike  speeches  against  the  English  oppressors 
of  America,  their  words  are  uttered  by  parricidal  lips, 
for  they  are  the  hereditary  representatives,  not  of 
the  aggrieved  party,  but  of  the  aggressors. 

To  many  the  Peace  Associations  appear  to  aim  at 
objects  as  Utopian  and  hopeless  as  did  the  Tempe- 
rance Societies  to  the  generation  which  is  now  passing 


'■     '   •    4 


^««|  /7     •> 


Chap.  II.] 


ENVIRONS  C»   BOSTON. 


25 


away.     The  cessation  of  war  seems  as  unattainable 

as  did  the  total  abstinence  from  intoxicating  liquors. 

But.  we  have  seen   a  great  moral  reform  brought 

about,  in  many  populous  districts,  majnly  by  cmu- 

bined  efforts  of  well  organised  societies  to  discourage 

intemperance,  and  we  may  hope  that  the  hostilities 

of  civilised  nations   may   be  mitigated  at  least   by 

similar  exertions.     "  In  the  harbour  of  Boston,"  says 

Mr.  Sumner,  «  the  Ohio,  a  ship  of  the  line,  of  ninety 

gVins,  is  now  swinging  idly  at  her  moorings.     She 

costs  as  much  annually  to  maintain  her  in  service,  in 

salaries,  wages,  and  provisions,  as  four  Harvard  Uni- 

versities."     He  might  have  gone  on  to  calculate  how 

many  primary  schools  might  be  maintained  by  the 

disbanding  of  single  regiments,  or  the  paying  off  of  . 

single  ships,  of  those  vast  standing  armies  and  navies 

now  kept  up  in  so  many  countries  in  Europe.     How 

much   ignorance,  bigotry,  and  savage  barbarism  in 

the  lower  classes  might  be  prevented  by  employing 

in  education  a  small  part  of  the  revenues  required 

to  maintain  this  state  of  armed  peace  ! 

Sept   22.  — At  this  season  the  wealthier  inhabi-  ^ 

tanta  of  Boston  are  absent  at  watering-places  in  the 
hiUs,  where3|Rere  are  mineral  springs,  or  at  the  sea- 
side. Some  of  them  in  their  country  villas,  where 
we  visited  several  friends  in  the  neighbourhood.  ^ 
The  environs  of  Boston  are  very  agreeable ;  woods 
and  hills,  and  bare  rocks,  and  small  lakes,  and  estu- 
aries running  far  into  the  land,  and  lanes  with  hedge- 
and  abundance  of  wild  flowers.  The  extreme  he^t 
of  summer  does  not  allow  of  the  green  meadows  and 
verdant  lawns  of  England,  bm  thete  are  some  well- 
^101,  I. ^,..,..^^ , 


^ 


M" 


■r  ' 


26      EXCURSION  TO  WHITE  MOUNTAINS.     [Chap.  II. 


i^ 


I   ' 


•• 


u. 


kept  gardens  here — a  costly  luxury  where  the  wages 
of  labour  are  so  high. 

Sept.  24. — I  had  determined  before  the  autiimif 
was  over  to  make  ,%n  excursion  to  the  White  Moun- 
tains of  New  Hampshire,  which,  with  the  exception 
of  thj^e  in  part  of  the  Alleghany  range  in  North  - 
Carolina,  are  the  loftiest  east  of  the  Mississippi.  Ac- 
cordingly, I  set  off  with  my  wife  on  the  railway  for 
Portsmouth,  fifty-four  miles  north  of  Boston,  which 
we  re^hed  in  two  hours  and  three  quarters,  having 
stopped  at  several  intervening  places,  and  going  usually 
at  the  rate  of  twenty  miles  an  hour.  There  were  about 
eighty  passengers  in  the  train,  forty  of  whom  were  in 
the  sanjie  carriage  as  ourselves.  "  The  car,"  in  shape 
like  a  long  omnibus,  has  a  passtige  down  the  middle, 
sometimes  called  "the  aisle,"  on  the  back  part  oC 
which  the  seats  are  ranged  transversely  to  the  length 
of  the  apartment,  which  is  high  enough  to  allow  a 
tall  man  to  walk  in  it  with  his  hat  qn.  Each  seat 
holds  two  persons,  and  is  well-cushioned  and- furnished 
with  a  wooden  back  ingeniously  contrived,  so  as  to 
turn  and  permit  the  traveller  to  face  either  way,  as 
ho  may  choose,  to  converse  with  any  acquaintance 
who  may  be  sitting  before  or  behind  him.  The 
long  row  of  windows  on  each  side  affords  a  good 
view  of  the  country,  of  which  more  is  thus  seen  than 
on  our  English   railroads.      The   trains,   moreover, 

fas  frequently  through  the  streets  of  ^villi^es  and 
nriis,  many  of  which   have  f prung  up  since  the 
•construction  of  the  railway.     The  conductor  [msses 
freely  through  the  passive  in  the  centre,  and  from   < 
aae  car  to  another,  examining  tickets  and  receiving 


oayincnt,  so  tts  to  prevent  any  delay  at  the  itafiMiK. 


f 


.    ft  .  i^^ks 


?        *J'■^fH_^~>   '  ■  '*>«'        •"■' 


••w^WKS*!*^'-"  ■""  M  •       ■«   '  '  ■ 


CHAP.  II.]  BAILWAr  itBAVELLlNG.  27 

If  we  desire  to  %m  an  estimate  of  the  relative 
accommodation,  advantages,  comforts,  tod  cost  of  the 
journey  m  one  of  these  railways  as  compared  with 
those  of  England,  we  mast  begin  by^supposing  all 
our  first,  second,  and  third-class  passengers  thrown 
into  one  set  of  carriages,  and  we  shall  then  be  asto- 
nished  at  the  ease  and  style  with  which  the  millions 
travel  in  the  United  States.    The  charge  for  the  dis- 
tance ot  54  miles,  from  Boston  to  Portsmouth,  wbs 
H  dollar  each,  or  6..  4rf.  Englieh,  which  was  just 
half  what  we  had  paid  three  weeks  before  for  first- 
olass  places  on  our  journey  from  London  to  Liver- 
pool (2/.  10,.  for  210  miles),  the  speed  being  in  both 
cases  the  same.     Here  there  is  the  ^^t  of  privacy 
enjoyed  in  an  English  first-class  carriage,  and  the 
seats,  though  excellent,  are  less  luxurious.     On  the 
other  hand,  the  power  of  standing  upright  when  tiwd 
of  the  flitting  posture  is  not  to  be  despised,  especially 
on  a  long  journey,  and  the  open  view  right  and  left 
from  a  whole  hne  of  windows  is  no  smaU  gain.     But 
when  ^e  come  to  the  British  second  and  thin!  class 
vehicles,  cushionless,  d.u'k,  and,  if  it  happen  to  rain 
sometimes  clo«.d  up  with  wooden  shutter,  and  con^ 
trast  them  with  the  cam  of  Massachusetts,  and  still 
more  the  average  afipeararice,,  dress,  and  manners  of 
the  inmates,  tlie  wide  difference  is  Indeed  remark- 
able;  at  the  sanie  time,  the  price  which  the  humblest 
dass  here  can  afford  to  pay  prove,  how  much  higher 
must  be  the  standard  of  wages  than  with  us.      * 

Un  starting,  we  had  first  to  cross  the  harbour  of 
Boston  m  a  largo  ferry-boat,  where,  to  economise 
^me,  there  w  a  bar  with  refrcohmcnta,  m>  Umt  you 


c  a 


>,Yf"f 


28 


PORTSMOUTH,   NEW  HAMPSHIRE.      [Chap,  IL 


H 


\ 


1 1 


\ 


f 


may  breakfast ;  or,  if  you  please,  biiy  newspapers,  or 
pamphlets,  or  novels.  We  then  flew  over  rails,  sup- 
ported on  long  lines  of  wooden  piles,  following  the 
coast,  and  having  often  the  sea  on  one  side,  and  fresh- 
water lakes,  several  miles  long,  or  salt  marshes,  on 
the  other.  In  some  of  the  marshes  we  saw  large 
haycocks  on  piles,  waiting  till  the  winter,  when,  the 
mud  and  water  being  firmly  frozen,  the  crop  can  be 
carried  in.  We  were  soon  at  Lynn,  a  village  of 
shoemakers,  exporting  shoes  to  distant  parts  of  the 
Union;  and  next  went  through  the  centre  of  the 
town  of  Salem,  partly  in  a  tunnel  in  the  main  street ; 
then  proceeded  to  Ipswich,  leaving  on  our  left  Wen- 
ham  Lake,  and  seeing  from  the  road  the  wooden 
houses  in  which  great  stores  of  ice  are  preserved.  In 
some  of  the  low  grounds  I*  saw  peat  cut,  and  laid 
')ut  to  dry  for  fuel.  We  crossed  the  river  Merrimack 
near  its  mouth,  on  a  bridge  of  great  length,  sup- 
ported by  piles,  and  .then  entered  New  Hampshire, 
soon  coming  to  the  first  town  of  that  state,  called 
Portsmouth,  which  has  a  population  of  8000  souls, 
and  -was  once  the  residence  of  the  colonial  governor. 
Here  I  made  a  short  stay,  passing  the  evening  at  the 
house  of  Mr.  J..  L.  Hayes,  to  whom  wo  had  letters 
of  introductioij,  where  wo  found  a  gay  party  assem- 
bled, and  dancing. 

Next  morning  I  set  out  on  an  excursion  with 
Mr.  Hayca  to  explore  the  geological  features  of 
the  neighbourhood,  which  agree  with  those  of  the 
Ra»tem  ooast  gonernlly  throughout  Massaohusett?, 
and  a  great  part  of  Maine — a  low  region  of  granitic 
rooks,   overspread  with   hcapt  of  Mud  and  gravel, 


■^■i'.'''i^^^^^^'; 


Chap.  II.] 


GEOLOGY. 


29 


pr  with  clay,   and   here   and   there   an   erratic  or 
huge  block  of  stone,   transported  from   a  distance, 
and  always  from  the  north.     Lakes  and  ponds  nu- 
merous, as  in  the  country  of  similar  geological  com- 
position  in  the  south  of  Norway  and  Sweden.    Here, 
also,  as  in  Spandinavia,  the  overlying  patches  of  clay 
and  gravel,  often  contain  marine  fossil  shells  of  spe- 
cies still  living  in  tffe  Arctic  Seas,  and  belonging  to 
the  genera  Saxicava,  Astarte,  Cardium,  Nucula,  and 
others,  the  same  which  occur  in  what  we  call  the 
northern  dfift  of  Ireland  and  Scotland.      Some  of 
the  concretions  of  fine  clay,  more  or  less  calcareous, 
met  with  in  New  Hampshire,  in  this  "  drift  "  on  the 
Saco  River,  thirty  miles  to  the  north  of  Portsmouth, 
contain   the  entire  skeletons  of  a  fossil  fish  of  the 
same  species  as  one  now  living  ia  the  Northern  Seas, 
called  the  capelan  {Mallotus  villosus),  about  the  size 
of  a  sprat,  and  sold  abundantly  in  the  London  mar- 
ket, salted  and  dried  Jike  herrings.     I  obtained  some 
of  these /ossils,  which,  like  the  associated  shells,  show 
that  a  colder  climate  than  that  now  prevailing  in  this 
region  was  established  in  what  is  termed  "the  glacial 
period."     Mr.  Hayes  took  me  to  Kittery,  and  other 
localities,  where  these  marine  oi^nio  remains  abound 
in  the  superficial  deposits.     Some  of  the  shells  arc 
mot  with  in  the  town  of  Portsmouth  itself,  in  digging 
the  foundation  of  houses  on  the  south  bank  of  the 
river  Pisoataqua.     This  was  the  most  southern  spot 
(lat  43°  6'  N.)  to  which  I  had  yet  traced  the  fossil 
fauna  of  the  boulder  period,  retaining   here,  as  in 
Canada,  its  peculiar  northern  characters,  consisting 
of  a  profusion  of  individuals,  but  a  smull  n.nnh^r  of 


0  s 


teUful.lu>.  ^t\- 


mmmmm 


FOSSILS   IN   DRIFT. 


[Chap.  II. 


species ;  and  a  great  many  of  those  now  abounding 
in  the  neighbouring  sea  being  entirely  absent.  It  is 
only  farther  to  the  south,  and  near  the  extreme  south- 
em  limit  of  the  drift,  or  boulder  clay,  as  at.  Brooklyn, 
in  Long  Island,  for  example,  that  a  mixture  of  more 
southern  species  of » shells  begins  to  appear,  just  as 
Professor  Ei  Forbes  has  detected,  in  the  drift  of  the 
south  of  Ireland,  the  meeting  of  a  Mediterranean  and 
Arctic  fauna. 

Everywhere  around  Portsmouth  I  observed  that 
superficial  polish  in  the  rocks,  and  those  long  straight 
grooves  or  furrows,  which  I  before  alluded  to  (p.  8.), 
as  having  been  imprinted  by  icebergs  on  the  ancient 
floor  of  the  ocei^n.  By  the  inland  position  of 
these  fossil  shells  of  recent  sj?ccies,  the  geologist 
can  prove  that,  at  times  compartytively  modern  in 
the  earth's  history,  the  larger  part  of  New  England 
and  Canada  lay  for  ages  beneath  the  waters  of 
the  sea.  Lake  Champlain  and  the  valley  of  the 
St.  Lawrence  being  then  gulfs,  and  the  White 
Mountains  an  island.*  But  it  is  a  curious  fact 
that  we  also  discover  along  this  same  eastern  coast 
signs  no  less  unequivocal  of  partial  subsidence  of 
land  at  a  period  still  more  zsecont  Tlie  evidence 
consists  of  swamps,  n^w  submerged  at  low  water, 
containing  the  roots  and  upright  stools  of  the  white 
cedar  {(Jnpressus  th/hidei),  showing  that  an  ancient 
forest  must  once  have  extended  farther  seaward. 
One  of  those  swamjw  wo  passed  yesterday  at  Hamp- 
ton, on  the  way  from  Boston  to  Portsmouth ;  an,d 


(5 


*  See  mj  "TraYeU  in  N.  America,  1841>2,"  vol.  ii.  p.  143. 


Chap.  II.] 


SUBMARINE    FOREST. 


31 


Mr.  Hayes  gave  me  specimens  of  the  submarine  wood 
in  as  fresh  a  state  as  any  occurring  a  few  yards  deep 
in  a  ^riti8h  peat-bog. 

ThaViwme  of  these  repositories  of  buried  trees, 
though  geolbgic^ly  of  the  most  modem  date,  may 
really  be  of  high^tiquity,  considered  with  refer- 
ence to  the  historyW  man,  I  have  no  doubt;  and 
geologista  may,  by  rtmeated  observations,  ascertain 
the  minimum  of  time^  required  for  their  formation 
previously  to  their  submergence.  Some  extensive 
cedar-swamps,  for  example,  of  the  same  class  occur  on 
the  coast  near  Cape  May,  in  the  southern  extremity 
of  the  state  of  New  Jersey,  on  the  east  side  of  De- 
laware Bay,  filled  with  trees  to  an  unl^nown  depth  ; 
and  it  is  a  constant  business  to  probe  the  soft  mud 
of  the  swamp  with  poles  for  the  purpose  of  discover- 
ing the  timber.  When  a  log  is  found,  the  mud  is 
cleared  off,  and  the  log  sawed  up  into  proper  lengths 
for  shingles  or  boards.  The  stumps  of  trees,  from 
four  to  five  feet,  and  occasionally  six  feet  in  diameter, 
are  found  standing  with  their  roots  in  the  place  in 
which  they  grew,  and  the  trunks  of  aged  cedars  are 
met  witl^  in  every  possible  position,  some  of  them 
lying  horizontally  under  the  roots  of  the  upright 
stumps.  Dr.  Bresle/,  of  Dennis  Creek,  counted 
1080  rings  of  annual  growth  between  the  centre  and 
outside  of  a  large  stump  six  feet  in  diameter,  and 
un^er  it  lay  a  prostrate  tree,  which  had  fallen  and 
been  buried  before  the  tree  to  which  the  stump  be; 
longed  first  sproutetl.  This  lo^^er  trunk  was  fiv^ 
hundred  years  old,  so  that  upwards  of  fifteen  ceii- 
turiea  were  thus  determined,  beyond  the  BhadoVof 


c  f 


y 


"■%.. 


^r 


sa 


WILD    PLANTS. 


[Chap.  II. 


ii   i, 


a  doubt,  as  th^  age  of  one  small  portion  of  a  bog,  the 
depth  of  which  is  as  yet  unknown. 

Mr.  Hayes  drove  me  in  his  carriage  through  woods 
•of.  fir  on  both  banks  of  the  Piscataqua,  where  the 
ground  was  covered  with  that  fragrant  shrub,  the, 
candleberry  {Myrica  cerifera),  the  Wax  of  which, 
derived  from  its  shining  black  berries,  is  used  for  mak- 
ing' candles.  The  odour  of  its  leaves  rehembles  that  of 
our  bog-myrtle  (Myrica  gate).  The  barberry,  also 
{Biirberis  vulgaris),  although  not  an  indigenous  pl.ant, 
is  very  abundant  and  ornamental  in  the  woods  here. 
.It  has  overrun,  in  modern  time^,  the  eastern  shores 
of  New  Englamd,  and  made  its  way  many  miles 
inlitnd,  to  the  great  annoyance  of  the  agriculturists. 
Some  naturalists  wonder  iiow  it  can  spread  so  fast, 
as  the  American  birds  refuse,  like  the'  European 
ones,  to  feed  on  its  red  berries  :  but  if  it  be  true  that 
cattle,  sheep,  and  goats  occasionally  browse  on  this 
sliirub,  there  is  no  Inystery  about  the  mode  of  its 
migration,  f(ir  the  seeds  may  be  sown  iri  their  dung. 
The  aromatic  shrub  called  sweet  fern  (  Coniptonia  as- 
phrnfolia)y  forms  nearly  as  large  a  proportion  of  the 
"  undergrowth  here  as  does  the  real  fern  {Pteris)  in 
Honvc  of  our  English  forests.  I  have  seen  this  part  of 
North  America  laid  down  «in  some  botanical  maps  as 
the  region  t)f  asters  and  solidagos ;  and  certainly  the 
varicity  and  abundance  of  (golden  rods  and  asters  is 
at  this  season*  very  striking,  although  a  white  over- 
lasting  (Gnnphnlium)  is  almost  equally  conspicuous. 
Among  other*  shrubs,  1  saw  the  poison-ivy  {Rhus 
radicans\  a  species  of  siunach,  growing  on  rocks  and 
walls.     It    has  no'cflbct   on  some  people,   but  the 


Chap.  II] 


SWALLOWS. 


33 


slightest  touch  r^lises  an  eruption  on  the  skin  of 
others.  A  new  Kngland  botanist  once  told  me  that, 
by  way  of  experiment,  he  rubbed  his  arm  with  the 
leaves,  .and  they  gave  kse  to  a  painful  swelling, 
which  was  long  in  subsiding. 

In  Mr.  Hayes's  garden  at  Portsmouth  were  some 
of  the   smaller   white-bodred   s^^allow*  rir    martins 
{Hirundo  viridis);  protected  from  their  enemy,  the 
Jarger  martin  {Hp-^ndo  purpurea),  by  having  small 
'  holes  made  for  them  in  flower-pot^,  which  the  others 
could  not  pass  through.      The  larger  kind,  or  house- 
martin,.is  encouraged  every  where,  small  wooden  boxes* 
being  made  for  them  on  roofs  or  on  the  tops  of  pole.s, 
resembling  pigeon-houses,  which  may  often  be  scon 
on  the  top  of  a  sign-post  before  a  New  England  inn. 
They  are  useful  in  chasing  away  birds  of  prey  fronj 
the  poultry -yard;    and  I  once  saw  a   few  of  them 
attacking  a  large  hawk.       But  I  suspect  they  are 
chiefly  favoured  for  mere  amusement  sake,  and  wel- 
comed,  like    our    swallows,   as   the   messengers   of 
spring,  on  their  annual  return  front  the  south.      It  is 
pleasing  to  hear  them  chattering  with  each, other, 
and  to  mark  their  elegant  forms   and  blueish-black 
plumage,  or  to  watch  them  on  the  wing,    floating 
gently  in  *the  air,    or  darting  rApidly  after  insects'! 
Thousands  of  these  birds,  with,  their  young,  died  in 
their  nests  in  the  spring  of  1836,  during  a  storm  of 
cold  rain,  which  lasted  two  weeks,  and  destroyed  the 
inscctf  throughout  the  States  of  New  York  and  New 
England.     The  smaller  species  ( Hirundo  viridis)  then 
regained   possession  of  their  old  hauftts,  occupying 
the  deserted  houses  of  the  more    powerful  g^colea, 


0  s 


~'»' 


■lliH,Wtl,!IIW. 


■4F' 


^1. 


34 


GLACIAL   GROOVES. 


[Chaf,  II. 


( 


i 


'Sv 


which,   like   the  house-sparrow  in  Europe,  has  fol- 
lowed the  residence  of  man. 

>  The  sun  was  very  powerful  arnoon;  but  the  seve- 
rity of  the  cold  here  in  winter  Is  so  great,  that  a 
singular  effect  is  produced  in  the  Piscataqua  when 
th^  thermometer  sinks  to  15°  below  zero.  The  tide 
pours  into  the  estuary  a  large  body  of  salt  water 
partaking  of  the  warmer  temperature  of  the  gulf 
stream,  and  this  water  coming  into  the  (jolder  at- 
mosphere smokes  like  a  thermal  spring,  giving  rise  to 
dense  fogs. 

I  had  been  desirous  of  making  the  acquaintance  of 
Mr.  Hayes,  in  consequence  of  having  read,  before  I 
left  England,  an  excellent  paper  published  by  him  in 
the  Boston  JoumalofNatural  History,  for  1844,  on  the 
Antarctic  Icebergs,  considered  as  explanatory  of  the 
transportation  of  rocky  masses,  and  of  those  polished 
rocks  and  glacial  grooves  and  stria  before  alluded 
to.  He  had  derived  his  information  from  experienced- 
men  eligaged  in  the  southern  whale  fisheries,  prin- 
cipally merchants  of  New  Bedford,  Massachusetts, 
and  Stonington,  Rhode  Island.  On  looking  over 
his  original  MS.  notes,  I  found  he  had  omitt^  to 
print  some  particulars  of  the  evidence,  which  I  con- 
sider of  no  small  interest  as  throwing  light  on  a  class 
of  geological  appearances  hitherto  thought  least  re- 
concilable with  the  ordinary  course  of  ^ture.  As 
to  the  carrijige  of  huge  fragments  of  rock*  for  many 
hundreds  of  miles,  from  one  region  to  another,  such 
transportation  was  formerly  appealed  to  by  writers 
now  living  as  among  the  marvels  of  the  olden  time, 
resembling  the  feats  of  tbo  fabulous  ages,  and  aa 
TBtK^  tratttHWuding -the  pt»ww^  ef  aatw^  ia  tbes^- 


ORGANIC   REMAINS  IN   ICE. 


35 


Chap.  II.] 

^|0nerate  days,    as^^the    stone    hurled   by   Hector 

i^nst  the  Grecian  g^^  exceeded  m  weight  and 

wz6  what  could  now  W^dsed  from  the  ground  by 

t|to;of  the  strongest  of  living  men  {oloi  vvv  ^porof). 

Byt  after  reading  the  accounts  given  by  Sir  James 

^  Ross  and  Captain  Wilkes,  of  the  transfer  of  erratics 

by  ice,  from  one  point  to  another  of ,  the  southern 

'  seas,   these  travelled  boulders  begin  to  be  regarded 

^  quite  as  vulgar  phenomena,  or  matters  of  every  day 

occurrence. 

There  still  Amain,  however,  among  the  wonders 
of  the  polar  regions^  some  geological  monuments 
which  appear  sufficiently  anomalous  when  we  seek 
to  explain  them  by  modern  analogies.  I  refer  to  the 
preservation  in  ice  of  the  carcasses  of  extinct  species 
of  quadrupeds  in  Siberia ;  not  only  the  rhinoceros 
originally  ^scovered,  with  part  of  ata  flesh,,  by  Pallas, 
and  the  mammoth  afterwards  met  with  on  the  Lena 
by  Adams,  but  still  more  recently  the  elephant  dug 
up  by  Middendorf,  September,  1846,  which  retained 
even  the  bulb  of  the  eye  in  a  perfect  state,  and  which 
is  now  to  be  seen  in  the  museum  at  Moscow.* 

In  part  of  the  unpublished  evidence  collected  by 
Mr.  Hayes,  are  statements  which  may  perhajje  aid 
us  in  elucidating  this  obscure  Subject ;  at  all  events 
they  are  not  undeserving  of  notice,  were  it  only  tp 
prove  that  nature  is  still  at  work  in  the  icy  regions 
enveloping  a  store  of  organic  bodies  in  ice,  which, 
after  a  series  of  geographical  and  climatal  changes, 
and  tlie  extermination  of  some  of  the  existing  cetaceo, 

See  "Principles  of  Geology,"  by  the  Author,  7th  ed.  1847, 


p.  83. 


=fc=S= 


/ 


36 


ANTARCTIC    ICE. 


[Chap.  II. 


U(' 


might  Strike  the  investigator  at  some  remote  period 
of  the  future  as  being  fully  as  marvellous  as  any 
monuments  of  the  past  hitherto  discovered.  The 
first  extract  which  I  make  with  Mr.  Hayes'  per- 
mission, is  from  the  evidence  of  Captain  Benjamin 
Pendleton,  of  StoVingtoh,  who,  from  his  knowledge 
'  of  the  Sotith  Shetland  fisheries,  "ivas  chosen  by  the 
American  governmentt  to  accompany  the  late  explor- 
ing expedition  to  the  Antarctic  seas.  He  had  cruised 
in  1820  and  1822  for  600  miles  along  the  lofty  ice 
cliffs  bounding;  the  great  southern  continent.  He 
says,  that  in  1821,  when  he  wished  to  bury  q,  seaman 
in  one  of  the  South  Shetland  islands,  several  parties 
of  twelve  men  each,  were  set  to  dig  a  grave  in  the 
blue  sand  and  gravel ;  but  after  penetrating  in  nearly 
a  hundred  places  through  six  or  eight  inches  of  sand,  - 
they  came  down  every  where  upon  solid  blue  ice. 
At  last  he  determined  to  have  a  hole  cut  in  the  ice, 
of  which  the  island  principally  consisted,  and  the 
body  of  the  man  was  placed  in  it.  In  1822,  Captiin 
Barnham  dug  out  the  body  from  the  ice,  and  fodnd 
the  clothes  and  flesh  perfectly  fresh  as  whenMih^^ 
were  buried.    *" 

So  far  this  narrative  may  be  said  merely  to  con- 
firm and  to  bear  out  another  published  by  Captain 
Kendall,  of  our  navy,  in  the  London  Geographical 
Journal,  1830  (pp.  65,  66.),  where  he  relates  that  |;he 
soil  of  Deception  Island,  one  of  the  South  ShetUvnds, 
consists  of  ice  and  volcanic  aphes  interstratified,  and 
he  discovered  there  the  body  of  a  foreign  sailor, 
which  had  long  been  buried,  with  the  flesh  and  all 
the  features  perfectly  preserved.     Mr.  Darwin,  com- 


'  r  'K    ij<r  ^  ^r^ 


>  * 


Chap.  II.]     WHALE  DISCOVERED  IN  AN  ICEBERG.     37 

menting  on  that  fact,  has  observed,  that  as  the  icy 
soil  of  Deception  Island  is  situate  between  lat.  62' 
and  63"  S.,  it  is  nearer  the  equator  by  about  100 
niiles  than  the  locality  where  Pallas  first  found  the 
frozen  rhinoceros  of  Siberia,  in  lat.  64"  N.* 

But  Captain    Pendlet«m  goes  on  to  relate,  that 
while  he  was  in  Deception  Island  an  iceberg  was 
detached  from  a  cliff  of  ice   800   feet  high.     The 
piece  which  fell  off  was  from  60  to  100  feet  deep, 
and  from  1500  to  3000  feet  in  length.     At  an  ele- 
vation of  about  280  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea, 
part  of  a  whale  was  seen  remaining  inclosed  in  the 
ice-cliff,  the  head  and  anterior  parts  having  broken 
off  about  the  flippers  and  fallen  down  with  the  de- 
tached mass   of  ice.      The    species    was  what   the 
whalers  call  the  "  Sulphur-bottom,"  resembling  the 
fin-l]^ck.     Captain  Pendleton  contrived  to  get  out 
the  portion  which  had  fallen,  and  obtained  from  it 
eigfitlro  ten  barrels  of  oil.    The  birds  for  a  long  time 
fed  upon   the   entrails.     This    fact   was  known   to 
Captain  Beck  and  others.     Capta/n  William  Pen- 
dleton,  another   whaler  of  ^perience,  also  informs 
Mr.  Hayes,  that  skeletons  of  whales  had  been  met 
with  in  the  South  Shetlands,  when  he  visited  them, 
300  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.     Thomas  Ash 
also  saw,  on  «  Ragged  Island  "beach,  the  skeleton 
and  some  of  the  soft  parts  of  a  whale  many  feet  above 
the  reach  of  the  highest   tides.     Captain   WiUiam 
Beck,  master   of  a  whaling  ship,  has  seen  whales' 
bones  and  carcasses  sixty  or  seventy  feet  above  the 
sea-level,  and  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  water. 
*  Darwin's  Journal,  2tl  ed.  p.  249. 


38 


ICEBERGS. 


[Chap.  IL 


I 


To  explain  how  the  bodies  and  skeletons  pf  these 
inhabitants  of  the  deep,  whether  found  entombed  or 
not  in  ice,  were  carried  up  to  considerable  heights 
above  the  level  of  the  sea,  appeared  to  me  at  first 
more  difficult  than  to  account  for  their  having  been 
included  in  solid  ice.  A  few  months  after  my  visit 
to  Portsmouth  I  saw  Captain  Wilkes,  of  the  United 
States  Exploring  Expedition,  and  called  his  attention 
to  the  problem.  He  remarked,  that  the  open  sea 
sometimes  freezes  round  the  Sandwich  Islands  (near 
the  l^outh  Shetlands),  so  that  ships  cannot  approach 
within  100  miles  of  the  shore.  In  like  manner,  in 
Antarctic  regions,  the  ocean,  often  freezes  over  at 
the  base  of  a  cliff  formed  of  barrier  ice.  In  all 
these  cases,  the  sheet  of  ice,  however  continuous, 
does  not  adhere  to  the  land  or  the  barrier,  because 
the  rise  and  fall  of  the  tide,  however  slight,  causes 
a  rent,  permitting  the  whole  mass  to  move  up 
and  down.  The  snow,  drifting  off  the  land  in  vast 
quantities  during  winter,  falls  over  the  cliffs  upon 
the  frozen  surface  of  the  sea,  until  its  weight  is 
such  that  it  causes  the  whole  mass  to  sink  ;  and  un- 
less the  winds  and  currents  happen  to  float  it  off,  it 
iQay  go  on  subsiding  till  it  acquires  a  great  thickness, 
and  may  at  last  touch  the  bottom.  Before  this 
happens,  however,  it  usually  gets  adrift,  and,  before 
.^it  has  done  melting,  tumbles  over  or  capsizes  more 
than  pnce. 

On  my  return  to  England,  in  1846, 1  described  the 
same  phenomena  to  my  friend  Dr.  Joseph  Hooker,  and 
subsequently  to  Sir  James  Ross,  and  they  both  of 
them,  without  hearing  Captain  Wilkes's  theory,  sug- 


.-Wy 


t' 


Chap.  II.] 


ICEBERGS. 


39 


gested  the  same  explanation,  having  observed  that  a 
grteat  sheet  of  ice  had  formed  in   the   sea  by  the 
freezing  of  melted  snow  on  the  southern  or  polar 
side  of  every  Antarctic  island.     If  the  carcase  of  a ' 
dead  whale  be  thrown  up  on  this  ic^,  it  must  soon  be 
buried  under  other  snow  drifted  from  the  land,  arid 
will  at  length  be  enclosed  in  the  lower  part  of  an  ice- 
bei^  formed  in  the  manner  before  described.     The 
frequent  overturning  or  reversal  of  positioh  of  these 
gre^  masses,  arises  from  the  temperature  of  the  water 
at  the  depth  of  1000  or  1500  feet,  to  which  they  fre- 
quently descend,  being  much  warmer  than  the  in- 
cumbent air  or  more  superficial^  water.     When  the 
inferior  or  submerged*  portions  melt,  the  centre  of 
gravity  is  soon  changed ;  and  a  magnificent  example 
is  recorded  by  Sir  James  Ross  of  the  capsizing  of  a 
great   island  of  ice  near  Possession  Island,  in  lat. 
71°  56'  S.     What  had  previously  been  the  bottom 
came  up  and  rose  100  feet  above  the  surfj^ce  of  the 
sea,  and  the  whole  of  the  ne^E^p  and  eastern  side 
was  seen  to  be  cov«ced  with  eaj-th  and  stones.     A 
party  landed  on  it,  and  a  slight  rocking  motion  was 
still  perceptible,  such  as  no  waves  or  swell  of  the  sea, 
even  in  a  &torra,  are  ever  capable  of  imparting  to 
such  large  icebergs.*     The  lower  down  the  carcass 
of  the  whale  is  buried  in  the  original  berg»  the  higher 
up  will  it  be  raised  above  the  levfel  of  the  sea  when 
the  same  berg  has  turned  over. 

♦  Sir  J.Ross'b  Voya^  to  Southern  Seaa,  voL  i.  pp.  195,  196. 


•^ 


if*  • 

'■  ''0 '  1/ 


0 


l:(;\-:i- 

'¥ 


,/'  ■  ■  v; 


-*.- 


\ 


I 


40 


NEW   ENGLAND   TRAVELLING.      [Chap.  IIL 


»> 


CHAP.  in. 

Portland  in  Maine.  —  Kennebec  .  River. —  Timber  Trade.  — 
Fossil  Shells  at  Oardiner. — Augusta  the  Capital  of  Maine. -^ 
Legal  Profession :  Advocates  and  Attorneys.  —  Equality  of 
Sects.  —  Religious  Toleration.  —  Calvinistic  Theology.  —  Pay 

of  Doom. 

■   I  ■ 

Sept.  25.  1845.  —  Here  we  are  at  midday  flying 
along  at  the  rate  of  twenty-five  and  occasionally 
thirty  miles  an  hour,  on  our  way  to  Portland,  the 
chief  city  of  Maine.  It  was  only  yesterday  afternoon 
that  WG  left  Boston,  and  in  less  than"  three  hours  we 
perfonncd  what  would  have  been  formerly  reckoned 
a  good  day's  journey  of  fortytfive  miles,  had  seen  at 
PortsmoiSTh  some  collections'  of  natural  history,  and 
jiflcrwards  gone  to  a  bojll, '  In  the  forenoon  of  ihis 
^ay  I  have  made  gcologfcal  excursions  on  both  banks 
of  the  Piscataqua,  andjbeforc  dark  shall  have  sailed 
far  up  the  Kenncfe||c^''  It  is  an  agreeable  novelty  to 
'^  naturalist  ta^j^uSbiuo  the  speed  of  a  railway  and 
the  luxury  ofgood  inns  with  the  sight  of  the  native 
forest, — th(y^dvantagos  of  civilisation  with  the  benuty 
of  unrcc\|iniiod  nature  —  no  hedges,  few  ploughed 
field8,-tlw&  wild  plants,  trees,  birds,  apd  animals  un- 
disturbed. 

Cheap  as  arc  the  fares,  Chcsc  milroads,  I  am  told, 
yield  high  [jrofits,  because  the  land  through  which 
they  run  costs  nothing.  When  wo  had  traversed  a 
jifltftnoc  of  ttbaut jbU^>il«jgi-ihn-fiftrfl  ^jliM  jvkng. 


Chap.  III.]        AMERICAN   STEAM  VESSEL. 


41 


some  rails  over  the  wharf  at  Portland,  and  we  almost 
stepped  from  our  seats  on  to  the  deck  of  the  Huntress 
steamer,  which  was  ready  to  convey  us  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Kemiebec  river.  ^ 

After  threading  a  cluster  of  rocky  islands  adorned 
with  fir  and  birch,  in  the  beautiful  Bay  of  Casco, 
we  came  to  the  Sound,  and  for  a  short  space  were 
in  the  open  sea,  with  no  view  but  that  of  a  distant 
coast.     As  there  was  nothing  to  see,  we  were  glad 
to  be  invited  to  dinner,  ti^nd  were  conducted  to  the 
gentlemen's  cabin,  a  sort  of  sunk  story,  to  which  the 
ladies,  or  the  women  of  every  degree,  were,  according 
to  the  usual  etiquette,  taken  down  first,  and  carefully 
seated  at  table  by  the  captain,  before  the  gentlemen, 
were   admitted.     Above  this  apartment  where   we 
dined  was  the  ladies'  cabin,  and  above  that  the  upper 
deck,  where  we  sat  to  enjoy  the  prospect  as  we  ap- 
proached the  mouth'of  the  Kennebec.     In  the  fore- 
part of  the  vessel,  on  this  upper  depk,  is  a  small 
room,  h'lvving  windows  on  all  sides,  where  the  nian 
at  the  helm  is  stationed  ;  not  at  the  stern,  as  in  our 
boats,  which  is  considered  by  the  Americans  as  a 
great  improvement  on  the  old  system,  as  the  steers- 
man's vie\||  cannot  be  intercepted,  and  tlio  passengers 
are  never  requested  to  step  on  one  side  to  enable  him 
to  see  his  way.     Dirccti(ms  to  the  engineer,  instead 
of  being  transmitted  by  voi(?fc  through  anfintermo-  ""* 
diate  messenger,  are  given  directly  by  one  or  more 
loud  strokes  on  a  bell.     Tljo  fuel  used  is  anthracite, 
the  'absence   of    oxygen    being   compensated   by   a 
strong  current  of  air  kept  up  by  what  resembles  a 


/ 


i'\ 


42 


THE   KENNEBEC. 


[Chap.  III. 


lU- 


winnowing-machine,  and  does  the  work  of  a  pair  of 
bellows. 

After  sailing  up  the  Kennebec'  about  fifteen  miles 
we  came  to  Bath,  a  town  of  5000  souls,  chiefly  fin- 
gaged  in  ship-building,  a  branch  of  industry  in  which 
the  State  of  Maine  ranks  first  in  the  Union;  the  ma- 
terials consisting  of  white  oak  and  pine,  the  growth 
of  native  forests.  Large  logs  of  timber  squared,  and 
each  marked  with  the  owner's  name,  are  often  cast 
into  the  river,  sometimes  far  above  Augusta,  and 
come  floating  down  100  miles  to  this  place.  In  win- 
ter many  of  them  get  frozei;  into  the  ice  and  im- 
prisoned for  six  or  seven  months,  until  the  late  spring 
releases  them,  and  then  not  a  fcw,jpf  them  are  carried 
far  out  into  the  Atlantic,  where  they  have  been  picked 
up,  with  the  owner's  name  still  telling  the  place  of 
their  origin.  The  water  is  sjilt  as  far  as  ]Jatli,  above 
which  it  is  fresh  and  freezes  over  so  as  to  allow 
sleighs  and  skaters  to  cross  it  in  winter,  although  the 
influence  of  the  tide  extends  as  far  up  as  Augusta, 
about  forty  miles  above  Iiat|i.  I  am  informed  that 
the  whole  body  of  the  ice  rises  and  falls,  cracking 
along  the  edges  where  it  is  weakest.  Over  the 
fissures  )>lanks  are  placed  to  serve  as  a  bridge,  or 
snow  is  thrown  in,  which  freezes,  and  aflbrds  a  pas- 
sage to  the  central  ice."  The  Kennebec,  besides  being 
enlivened,  by  the  "  lumber  trade,"  is  at  this  season 
whitened  with  the  sails  of  vq^sels  hulon  with  hay, 
which  has  been  compressed  into  small  l)ulk  by  the 
power  of  steam.  Many  of  these  merchantmen  are 
destined  for  New  York,  whore  tlie  unusual  heat  and 
drought  of  the  summer  has  caused  a  scanty  cro{»  of 


i 


Chap.  III.] 


TREES  ON   ITS   BANKS. 


43 


grass,  but  hundreds  are  bound  to  the  distant  ports 
of  Mobile  and  New  Orleans  ;  so  that  the  horses  of 
Alabama  and  Louisiana  are  made  to  graze  on  the 
sweet  pastures  of  Maine,  instead  of  the  coarser  and 
ranker  herbage  of  the  southern  prairies.  In  a  few 
months  these  northern-built  ships  will  bri^g  back 
bales  of  cotton  for  factories  newly  established  by 
Boston  capitalists,  and  worked  on  this  river  both  by 
water  power  and  steam.  Such  are  the  happy  conse- 
quences of  the  annexation  of  Louisiana  to  the  United 
States.  But  for  that  event,  the  favourite  theories  of 
political  economy  in  New  England,  and  the  duty  of 
protecting  native  industry,  would  have  interposed 
many  a  cystom-house  and  high  tariff  between  Maine 
and  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi. 

j|A|^  passed  Bat*  a  large  eagle,  with  black  wings 
aflHkhitu  body,  was  seen  soaring  over  our  heads  ; 
smTtovr  miles  above,  where  the  salt  and  fresh  water 
iBeet,  seals  were  seen  sporting  close  to  the  steamer. 
The  Kennebec  is  said  to  abound  in  salmon.     We 
admired  the  great  variety  of  trees  on  its  banks  ;  two 
kinds  of  biroh  with  larger  leaves  than^ur  British 
species,  several  oaks  and  pines,  the  hemlock  spruce 
with  foliage  like  a  yew' tree,  and  the  silver  fir,  and  two 
8|)ecio8  of  maple,  the  sugar  or  rock  maple  {Acer  sac- 
charinum),  and,  the  white  {A.  d(is>/carjmm),  l)oth  of 
which  yiohl  sugar.     To  these  two  trees  the  beauty 
and  brilliancy  of  the  autumnal  tints  of  the  American 
forests  are  due,  the  rook  maple  turning  red,  jjurple, 
and  Mcarhit,  and  the  white,  first  yellow,  and  then  rod. 
Wo  were  conveyed  iu'^tho  Huntress  to  Ciardiner, 
the  head  of  steam- boat  navigation  hero,  sixty-eight 


( 


!  ■ 


'  (1 


i  :  I 


1<. 


r 


'44 


i-OSSIL    REMAINS. 


[Chap.  Ill; 


miles  distance  from  Portland,  where  we  visited  the 
country  house  of  Mr.  Gardiner,  whos6  family  gave 
its  name  to  the  settlement^     It  is  built  in  the  style 
of  an.  English  country  sedt,  and  surrounded  by  a 
park.     At  Mr.  Allen's  I  examined,  with  much  in- 
terest, a  collection  of  fossil  shells  and  Crustacea,  made 
by  Mrs.  Allen  from  the  drift  or  "glacial"  deposits  of 
t^je  same  age  as  those  of  Portsmouth,  already  de- 
scribed.    Among   other  remains   I   recognised   the 
tooth  of  a  walrus,  similar  to  one  procured  by  me 
in  Martha's  Vineyard*,  and 'other  teeth,  since  de- 
termined  for  me  by  Professor  Owen  as  belonging 
to    the    buffalo  or    American   bison.     These  are,  I 
believe,  the  first  examples  of  land:  quadrupeds  dis- 
covered in  beds  of  this  age  in  the  United  States. 
The  accompanying  shells- consisted  of  the  common 
mussel  {Mytilus  edulis),  Sa^ciava  rugosa,  Mya  are- 
naria,  Pccten  Islandicus,  and  species  of  the  genera 
Aalfirte,  Nucnla,  &c.     The  horizontal  beds  of  clay' 
and  sand  wMch  contain  thcsQ  remains  of  northern 
species,   and    which   imply    that   the   whole   region 
ifB»  beneath  tlie  sea  at   no   distaht  period,   impart 
to  the  scenery  of  the  country  bordering  the  Ken- 
nebec  its   leading   features.     The   deposit   of  clay 
and  san^  is  1 70  feet  thick  in  some  i)laces,  and  nu- 
merous valleys   70   feet  deep  are  hollowed  out.  of 
it  by  every  sniill -stream.     At  Augusta  I  saw  this 
modern  tertiary  fonnation,  100  feet  thick,    resting 
on  a  lodge  of  nuca  schist,  the  shells  being  easily  ob- 
tained from  an  undermined  cliff  of  clay.     In  some 
places,  as.  at  Gardiner,  conical  hillockn,  chiefly  of 
gravel,  about  fifty  feet  liigh,  and  compared  here,  on 
*  Swi"jri'ttrcr»."T»l.r.7r.adtt.  "^      "       ' 


i    v)»^^^^ftc^^^-s^--JJ^,"■'<^■^,7^^7^^lpl^(^H■ 


!H»P.ni.]  AUOCSTA  IN    MAINE.  45 

.account  of  (he  regularity  of  their  forri,,  to  Indian 
mounda,  stand  isolated  near  the  riyer.  ,  I  conceive 
Kem  to  <,ve  their  shape  to  wUt  the  geoiogU^  e  L 
denudation,"  or.  the  action  of  waves  and  current^ 
wtnch.  as  the  country  was  rising  gradually  out  of 
the  sea,  removed  the  surrounding  softer  clay  and  left 
these  masses  undestroyed.      They  would   offer  re- 
«8  ance  to  the  force  of  moving  water  by  the  <rreat 
we^ht  and  size  of  their  component  materials    f:Hn 
them  wc.find  not  only  pebbles,  but  many  !„,„;  boul- 
ders <,f  granite  and  other  rocka  ■ 

Mr  Allen  drove  us  in  bis  carriage  toAu.r„sta  six' 
nnles  Aom  Gardiner,  and  200  mile:N.  E.  of  B    '," 
where.we  vis.ted  the  State  Honse,  handsomely  b„m 
n  the  Grecan  style,  with  a  portico  and  large  columns 

fhe  rooms  for  the  two  houses  of  the  le.islaturti  «L 
very  conven  ent,  I  „„s  shown'  U,e  libn.ry  by  tt 
governor,  who  called  m^.attention  to  some  books' ahd 

^Ld  '"™^  °'  ""'  '^""V"»«  y«t  W' 

to  *f' •  ^'•-«<""™'«l .  by  the  ~  Huntress  steamer 
to   Portland,  after  sailing  at  the  rate  of  fourZn 
mJes  an  hour/    On  hoard  wc..  e.n,o  lawyer  ,!tote  . 
of  whom   a  judge  in  the  State  of  m/o.  m/q* 
d.ucr  had  ntroduced  n.c.    I^he  pnZsion'Jl  W 
»,^.J1  others  m  the  United  States,  that  which  attract^ 

mon  not  only  t„r  „s^,wn  «,ke,  but  bceuuso  it  is  i 
groat  school  for  ^.e  training  up  of>litici.,"  ^j 
°ou.,.etu.oa  of  ,o  u.any  pr^ti.ione  .  oWj„,u  fa^ 


"\ 


'/ 


7^f 


.  ^ 


'»  /''^ 


I*-?i  ' 


1i.    ■ 


''  I 


1  t 


46 


LEGAL   PROFESSION. 


[Chap.  III. 


and,  although' this  is  said  to  promote  litigatito,  it  has.  - 
at  leaat  the  gr^at  advantage  of  placing  the  ^oor  ^an 
on  a  more  equal  footing  with  the  rich,  as  none  but 
the  latter  caii  attempt  to  assert  their  rights  in  coun- 
tries where  the  cost  of  a  successfiil  law-suit  may  be 
ruinous.   Practically,"  there  is  much  the  same  subdivi- 
sion  of  labour.in  the  legal  profession  here  as  m  Eng- 
land- for  a  man  of  eminence  enters  into  partnership 
with  some  one  or  more  of  the  youtiger  or  less  talented 
t^awyers,  who  play  the  i)art  assigned  with  Us  to  jutiior 
counsel  and  attorneys.     Jhere  are,  however,  no  two 
grades  here  corresponding  to  barrister  and  attorney, 
from  the  inferior   of  which  alone   practitioners  can 
pass  in  the  regular  coui-se  of  promotion  to  the  higher. 
Every  lawyer  in   the   United  States  may  plead  in 
court,  and  address  a  jury;   and,  if  he  is  successful, 
TOaybe  raised  to  the  bench;  bu£  he  must  quahfy  m 
counsellor,   in  order  \o  be  entitled  to   plead  in  the 
Supreme  Court,  where   cases   are   heaud  involvmg 
points  at  issue  between  the  tribunals  of  independent 
states.      The  line  drawn  .lietween  barrister  and  at- 
torney in  Great  Britain,  which  never  existed  even  in 
colonial  times  in  Massachusetts,  could   only  be   to- 
lerated in  a  country  where  the  aristocratic  element  is 
exceeaingly  predominant.      In  the  English  Church, 
where  seats  in  the  House  of  Lord^  are  held  by  the 
bishops,  we  see  how  the  rank  of  a  whole  profession 
may  be  elevated   by  making  high  distinctions  con- 
ferred   only  on  a  few,  open  to  all.      Ihat.  in  like 
manner,  the  highest  honours  of  the  bar  and  bench 
might  be  open  without  detriment  to  the   most  nu- 
merous cla^s  of  legal  practitioners  in  Great  Britain, 


a 


Chap,  III.]      ADVOCATES  AND  ATTORNEYS. 


47 


seems  to  be  proved  by  the  fact,  that  occasionally 
some  attorneys  of  talent,  by  quitting  their  original 
line  of  practice  and  starting  anew,  can  attain,  like 
the  present  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas,  to 
places  of  the  first  dignity.  In  Canada,  under  British 
rule,  it  is  the  custom  to  grant  licences  to  the  same 
individual  to  practise  indifferently  in  all  the  courts 
as  advocate,  solicitor,  attorney,  and  proctor.  When 
we  consider  thq  confidential  nature  of  the  business 
transacted  by  English  attorneys,  the  extent  of  pro- 
perty comrtiitted  to  their  charge,  the  manner  in 
which  they  are  consulted  in  family  affairs  of  the 
utmost  delicacy,  as  in  the  framing  of  marriage  con- 
tracts and  wills,  and,  observe,  moreover,  how  the 
.'management  of  elections  falls  into  their  hands,  we 
may  well  question  the  policy  of  creating  an  artificial 
line  of  demarcation  between  them  and  the  advocates^ 
marked  enough  to  depress  their  social  rank,  and  to 
deter  many  young  men  of  good  families,  who  can  best 
afford  to  obtain  a  liberal  education,  from  entering 
the  most  profitable,  and,  in  reality,  the  most  important 
branch  of  the  i)rofes8ion. 

I  have  mentioned  the  Supreme  Courts ;  in  these, 
in-  each  state,  capes  are  heard  involving  points  at  issue 
between  two  independent  jurisdictions ;  and  in  order 
to  preserve  uniformity  in  the  interpretation  of  many 
different, codes,  as  well  as  in  the  statutes  passed  from 
time  to  time  by  state  legislatures,  the  previous  de- 
cisions of  Courts  of  Law  are  reforred  to,  and  the 
authority  of  jJudgcs  of  high  repute  in  any  part  of 
the  tlnion,  and  even  in  Great  Britain,  frequently 
cited.     As  points  of  intcrnh,tional  law  arc  perpetually 


\ 


.jAs,it 


I  m.i 


u'  I  ■ 

*    ir 


t 


t 


/ 


48 


EQUALITY   OF   SECTS. 


[Chap.  III. 


arising  between  so  many  jurisdictions,  the  Supreme 
Oourts  afford   a  fine  field  £ot  the  exercise  of  legal 

talent,  and  for  forming  jurists  of  enlarged  views. 

Portland,  with  15,000  inhabitants,  is  tlie  principal 
city  of  Maine ;  gay  and  cheerful,  with  neat  white- 
houses,  shaded  by  avenues  of  trees  on  each  side  of 
the  wide  streets,  the  bright  sunny  air  unsullied,,  as 
usual  in  New  England,  by  coal  smoke.  There  are 
churches  here  of  every  religious  denominatioti :  Con- 
gregationalists,  Baptist^  Methodists,  Free-will  Bap- 
^tists,  Universalisfs,    Unitarians,   Episcopalians,  Ro- 

lan  Catholics,  and  Quakers,  alt  living  harmoniously 
together.  The  l^e  Governor  of  the  State  was  a 
Unitarian  ;  and,  as  if  to  prove  the  perfect  toWtion 
of  chyrches  the  most  opposed  to  each  other,  they 
have  recently  had  a  Roman  Catholic  Governor. 

On  Sunday  we  accompanied  the  family  of  a  lawyer, 
to  v?hom  ,ye  had  brought  letters,  to  a  Unitarian 
church.  Tiiere  was  nothing  doctrinal  in  the  sermonj 
and,  among  other  indications  of  the  altered  and 
softened  feelings  of  the  sects  which  have  sprung  from 
the  old  Puritan  stock,  I  remarked  a  gilt  cross  placed 
over  the  altar.  The  officiating  minister  told  me 
that  this  step  had  been  taken  with  the  consent  of 
the  congregation,  though  not  without  the  oi^positiou 
of  some  of  his  elders.  The  early  Puritans  regarded 
this  symbol  as  they  did  pictqres  and.  images,  as  the 
badges  of  sui)erstition,  tlie  relics  of  the  idolatrous 
religion  so  lately  renounced  by  them  ;  and  it  is  curious 
to  read,  in  the  annals  of  the  first  colonists  at  Salem, 
how,  in  1634,  the  followers  of  Roger  Williams,  the 
Brownist,  went  so  for  a^j  to  cut  that  "  popish  em- 


(1 


,    11 


•1 


Chap.  III.J  EELIGIODS   TOLEBATION.  49 

blem,"  the  red  ero88,  out  of  the.  royal  standard,  aa 
'M  ,  °^^y'^«>^  the  train  band,  ought  no  longer  to  follo«- 
Uuring  my  first  visit  to  the  New  England  State- 
1  was  greatly  »t  a  loss  to  comprehend  by  what  means' 
so  large  a  population  had  been  brought  to  unite  great 
eamestnees  of  religious  feeUng  with  so  much  real 

farthfer  back  than  the  common  schools,  or  at  least  the 
present  improved  state  of  popular  education ;  for  We 
are  st,ll  met  with  the  question -How  could  such 
schools  be  mamtamed  by  the  State,  or  by  compulsory  ' 
assessments,  on  so  liberal  a  footing;  in  spite  of  the 
fanaticism  and  sectarian  prejudices  of  the  vulgar  >- 
When  we  cal    to  mind  the  religious  enthusiasm  of 
the  ear^y  Puritans,' and  how  at  first  they  merely  ex- 
changed  a  servile  obedience  to  tradition,   and  the 
authority  of  .the  church,  for  an  equally  b  iud  Jn. 
urahsm    or  implicit  faith  in  the  letter'of  every  p^lt 
of  the  Bible  acting  as  if  they  belisj«Ulmt  G«l,  b, 
some  miraculous  process,  had  dictated  all  the  Hebrew 
words  of  th.^.Old,  and  all  the  Greek  of  the  N^ 
,     Testament ;  nay,  the  illiterate  among  them  cherishing 
he  same  superstitious  veneration  for  every  syllabi! 
of  the  English-  translation -how  these  religionists 

be  publicly  whipped  for  denying  that  the  Jewish 

code  was  obligatory  on  Christians  as  a  .rule  of"tfe 

and  who  were  fully  pe^uaded  that  they  alone  we.^     ' 

the  chosen  people  of  God,  should  bequeath  to  tTie^ 

immediate  posterity  such  a  philosophiear  spirit  as 

must  precede  the  organisation  by  the  whole  people    '. 

•  Graliaiu',  Ilistorj  of  United  Stule^  vol.  i.  p.  2S7. 
YQL.  I, . jj  . r.  — ~—==^ 


:\\ 


vl 


.^am- 


V'. 


I 


50 


BELIGIOUS   TOLERATION.         [Chap.  HI. 


of  a  system  of  secular  education  acceptable  to  all, 
and  accompanied  by  the  social  and  political  equality  of 
religious  sects  such  as  no  other  civilised  community 
has  yet  so  fully  achieved — this  certainly  is  a  problem 
well  worthy  of  the  study  of  every  reflecting  mind. 
To  attribute  this  national  characteristic  to  the  volun- 
tary system, would  be  an  anachronism,  as  that  is  of^ 
comparatively  modem  date  in  New 'England  ;  besides 
that    the    dependence   of  the    ministers    on    their 
flocks,   by  transferring   ecclesiastical  power   to   the 
multitude,  only  gives  to  their  bigotry,  if  they  be 
ignorant,  a  more  dangerous  sway.     So  also  of  uni- 
versal suffrage ;  by  investing  the  million  with  political 
power,    it  renders  the  average  amount  of  their  en- 
lightenment the  measure  of  the  liberty  enjoyed  by 
those  who  entertain  religious  opinions  disapproved  of 
by  the  majority.     Of  the  natural   effects  of  such 
power,   and   the  homage  paid  to  it  by  the  higher 
classes,  even  where  the  political  institutions  are  only 
partially  democratic,  we   have  abundant   exemplifi- 
cation in  Europe,  where  the  educated  of  the  laity 
and  clergy,  in  spite  of  their  comparative  independence 
of  the  popular  will,  defer  outwardly  to  many  theo- 
logical notions  of  the  vulgar  with  which  they  have 
often  no  real  sympathy. 

To  account  for  the  toleration  prevailing  in  New 
England  and  the  States  chiefly  peopled  from  thence, 
we  must  refer  to  a  combination  of  many  favourable 
circumstances,  some  of  them  of  ancient  date,  and 
derived  from  the  times  of  tha  first  Puritan  .settlers. 
To  these  I  shall  have  many  opportunities  of  alluding 
in  the  sequel ;  but  I  shall  mention  now  a  more  mo- 


"i-^efT^ '"^^  \  '^""C^ *"?3!*'''  f^^'^"^  »^?t<te!f^»'™?^iK*^?^^^wy  '^•s=*^»  'Y?***'" 


Chap.  III.]         CALVINISTIC   THEOLOGY.  51 

dern  cause,  the  effect  of  which  was  brought  vividJy 
before  my  mind,  in  conversations  with  several  lawyers 
'  f  Mf '^e,  New  Hampshire,  and  Massachusetts,  whom 
1  fell  m  with  on  this  tour.     I  mean  the  reaction 
against  the   extreme  Calvinism  of  the  church  first 
established  m  tlis  part  of  America,  a  movement 
which  has  had  a  powerful  tendency  to  subdue  and 
mitigate  sectarian  bitterness.     In  order  to  give  me 
some  idea  of  the  length  to  which  the  old  Calvinistio 
doctrines  were  jinstiUed  into  the  infant  mind,  one  of 
my  companions  presented  me  with  a  curious  poem, 
called  the  "Day  of  Doom,"  formerly  used  as  a  school 
book  m  New  England,  and   which  elderly  persons 
known  to  him  had  been  required,  some  seventy  years 
ago,  to  get  by  rote  as  children.    This  task  must  have 
occupied  no^small  portion  of  their  time,  as  this  8trin«r 
of  doggrel  rhymes  makes  up  no  less  than  224  stanz^ 
of  eight  hnes  each.     They  were  written  by  Michael 
Wigglesworth,  A.M.,  teacher  of  the  church  of  Mai- 
den, New  England,  and  profess  to  give  a  poetical 
description  of  the  Last  Judgment.     A  grea^  an.y 
of  Scnp ture  texts,  from  the  Old  and  New  Testament^ 
is  cited  throughout  in  the  margin  as  warranty  for  the 
orthodoxy  of  every  dogma. 

Were  such  a  composition  now  submitted  to  any 
committee  of  school  managers  or  teachers  in  New 
England,  they  would  not  only  reject  it,  but  the  most 
orthodox  amongst  them  would  shrewdly  suspect  it  to 
be  a  "weak  myention  of  the  enemy,"  designed  to 
caricature,  or  give  undue  prominence  to,  precisely 
those  tenets  of  the  dominant  Calvinism  which  the 

moderate  party  object  to,  as  outraging  human  reason 

^ —— . — . — . __ 


r" 


-FT 


laiy. 


■^ 


52 


*'  DAY  OP   DOOM." 


[Chap.  111. 


and  as  derogatory  to  the  moral  attributes  of  the  Su- 
preme Being.  Such,  however,  were  not  the  feelings 
of  the  celebrated  Cotton  Mather,  in  the  year  1705, 
when  he  preached  a  funeral  sermon  on  the  author, 
which  I  find  prefixed  to  my  copy  of  the  sixth  edition, 
printed  in  1715.  On  this  occasion  he  not  only  eulo- 
gises Wigglesworth,  but  affirms  that  the  poem  itself 
contains  "  plain  truths  drest  up  in  a  plain  metre ; "  and 
further  prophesies,  that  "  as  the  *  Day  of  Doom '  had 
been  often  reprinted  in  both  Englands,  it  will  last  till 
the  Day  itself  shall  arrive."  Some  extracts  from 
this  document  will  aid  the  reader  to  estimate  the 
wonderful  revolution  in  popular  opinion  brought 
about  in  one  or  tw6  generations,  by  which  the  harsher 
and  sterner  features  of  the  old  Calvinistic  creed  have 
been  nearly  eradicated.  Its  professors,  indeed,  may 
still  contend  as  stoutly  as  ever  for  the  old  formularies 
of  their  hereditary  faith,  as  they  might  fight  for  any 
other  party  banner;  but  their  fanatical  ^devotion  to 
its  dogmas,  ancr  their  contempt  for  all  ^ther  Christian 
churches,  has  happily  softened  down  fki-ifj^isappeared. 

The  poem  opens  with  the  arraignnic^lfe^all  "the 
(juick  and  the  dead,"  who  are  summoBprll|fore  the 
throne  of  God,  and  having  each  pleaded  at  ^^  Ijar^ 
arc  answered  by  their  Judge.  Some  of  them  d^Mb.?;e 
that  the  Scriptures  are  "  so  dark,  that  they  have 
puzzled  the  wisest  men ;"  others  that,  being  "hea- 
thens," and  having  never  had  "  the  written  Word 
preached  to  them,"  they  are  entitled  to  pardon;  in 
reply  to  which,  the  metaphysictd  Subtleties  of  the 
doctrines  of  election  and  grace  are  fully  propounded. 
The  next  class  of  bflPcndera  might  atyaHen  the  sytn' 


;;^- 


i' 


« 


-^ 


Chap.  III.] 


"DAY  OP  DOOM." 


63 


pathies  of  any  heart  not  protected  by  a  breastplate  of 
theological  dogmatism :  — 

"  Then  to  the  bar  all  they  drew  near 
Who  died  in  infancy, 
And  never  had,  or  good  or  bad. 
Effected  personally,"  &c. 

These  infants ,  remonstrate  against  the  hardship  of 
having  Adam's  guUUaid  to  their  charge  :  — 

Ate  of  the  tree 
lit'li^  interdicted ; 
is  sad  fall. 
The  j^^^mient's  inflicted." 

The  Judge  replies,  that  none  can  suffer  "for  what 
they  never  did : "  — 

(171.)    "  But  what  you  call  old  Adam's  fall. 
And  only  his  trespass, 
- »       V,    You  call  amiss  to  call  it  his, 
%,,,  Both  his  and  yours  it  was. 

(172.)    "  He  was  designed,  of  all  mankind, 
To  be  a  public  head ; 
A  common  root,  whence  all  should  shoot, 
And  stood  in  all  their  steady 

"  He  stood  and  fell,  did  ill  or  wM 
Not  Ibr  himself  alone. 
But  for  you  all,  who  now  his  fall 
4«nd  trespass  would  disown. 

. '     (173.)    "  If  he  had  stood,  then  all  hia  brood 
Had  been  established,"  &c. 

(174.)    "  Would  you  have  grieved  to  have  received 


A' 


^m-                i 

■; 

,     .i^^V^--'                  J 

Luruugu  Auam  so^ucl 

1  good  r    &c. 

. ""' 

»  3 

'  i^l 

-  z.       ■'        ■'       n 

'     " 

1^ 

;  ■#:  ■' ' 

» 

/'  -|H^ 

.-.-»»-.    •,               ■. /\ 

.'y''fiW'. :-.'/'-.  ^  '   .-^■'•-.iv  -  '■'  -.A            ^_ 

- 

k     A,' 


'  ••vrfinip  •  •V!3f-Jl'«'^^f]S^- 


m 


\\ 


54 


"DAT  OP  DOOM.'* 


[Cha*-.  III. 


"  Since  then  to  share  in  his  welfare 
You  would  have  been  content, 
You  may  with  reason,  share  in  his  treason, 
And  in  his  punishment.'^ 

A  great  body  of  Scripture  texte  are  here  intro- 
duced in  eonfirmation ;   but 'the  children  are  told, 
^even  including  those  "who  from  the  womb  unto  th 
tom^)  were  straightway  carried,"  that  they  are  to  havi 
"the  easiest  room  in  hell ; "  — 
■■         'J 
(181.)    "  The  glorious  King;  thus  answering, 
They  cease,  and  plead  no  longer, 
Their  conscieri'ces  must  needs  confess 
Ills  reasons  are  the  stronger." 

The  pains  of  hell,  and  the  constant  renovation  of 

strength  to  enable  the  "  sinful  wight "  to  bear  an 

eternity  of  torment, 'are  then  dilated  upon  at  such 

length,  and  so  minutely,  and  a  picture  so  harrowing 

to  the  soul  is  drawn,  as  to  remind  us  of  the  excellent 

observations  on  this  head  of  a  modem  New  England 

divine.     "  It  is  not  wonderful,"  he  says,  "  that  this 

~lneans  of  subjugating  the  mind  should  be  freely  used 

and  dreadfully  perverted,  when  we  consider  that  no 

talent  is  required  to  inspire  fear,   and   that   coarse 

minds   and    hard  hearts  are  signally  gifl^J  for  this 

work  of  tortur^."  •It  is  an  instrument  o^ tremendous 

power,"  he  ad^^    "enabling  a  Protestant  minister, 

.  wlwlst  disclaiming  pupal  pretensions,  to  build  up  a 

#^  spiritual  despotism,  and  to  beget  in  those  committcif 

^^  to  lu|  guidance  a  passive,  servile '  state  of  fciind,  too 

'     agitated  for  d^iberate  and  vigorous  thought."  * 


# 


*  Channing's  Works,  London,  toI.  iii<  p.  263. 


\ 


l''l 


4 


..  xJ,r^&;jLk 


Chap.  IU.] 


"  DAT  OF   DOOM." 


\ 


-    |> 


55 


That  the  pious  minister  of  Maiden,  however,  had 
no  desire  to  usurp  any  undue  influence  over  his  {:ranic-> 
stricken  readers,  is  very  probable,  and  that  he  was 
only  indulging  in  the  usual  strain  of  the  preachers  of 
his  time,  when  He  told  of  the  "  yelling  of  the  damned, 
as  they  were  burnt  eternally  in  the  company  of 
devils,"  and  went  on  to  describe  how 


'♦  God's  vengeance  feeds  the  flame 
With  piles  of  wood  and  brimstone  flood,  . 
That  none  can  quench  the  same." 

We  next  learn  that  the  peace  and  calm  blessedness 
of  the  saints  elect,  who  are  received  into  heaven,  is 
not  permitted  to  be  disturbed  by  compassion  for  the 
damned;  mothers  and  fatliers  feelirig.no  pity  for  their 
lost  children :  —        s 

"  The  godly  wife  conceives  no  grief, 
Nor  can  she  shed  a  tear, 
Fur  the  sad  fate  of  her  dear  mate 
^       1  Wh^n  she  his  doom  doth  hear."         ^ 

The  great  distinction  between  the  "spirit  of  the 
times  when  those  verses  were  written  and  i^xe  present 
agle,  appears  to  be  this,  that  a  parunount  importance 
was  then  attached  to  those  doctrinal  points  in  which 
the  leading, sects  differed  from  each  other,  whereas 
now  Christianity  is  more  generally  considered  to  con- 
sist essentially  in  believing  and  obeying  those  scrip- 
tural precepts  on  which  all  churches  agree. 


/ 


*.   'I 


M 


'•'■•  3^' 


56 


JOURNEY  FROM  PORTLAND.       [Chap.  IV. 


■     CHAP.  IV. 

Joumei/  from  Portland  to  the  White  MoiaUains.  —  Plants.  — 
Churches,  School- houses.  —  Temperance  Hotel.  ~  InteUigence 
of  NeuiEnglanders.— Climate,  Co^sumption.— Conway.— Di- 
,.  vision  of  Properly.  -  Every  Man  his  own  Tenant.— Autumnai 
Tints.  —  Bears  hybemating.  -  Willey  Slide.  —  Theory  of 
Scratches  and  Grooves  on  Rochs.  —  Scenery.  —  Waterfalls 
and  Ravines.  —  The  Notch.  —  Forest  Trees  and  Mountain 
Plants.  —  Fabvan's  Hotel.  —  Echo. 

Sept.  2%.  1845.  — Leaving  Portland  and  the  sea- 
coast,  We  now  struck  inland  in  a  westerly  direction 
towards  the  White  Mountains,  having  hired  a  carriage 
which  carried  us  to  ^tandish.     We   passed  at  first 
over  a  low,  featureless  country,  but  enlivened  by  thd 
brilliant  autumnal  colouring  of  the  foliage,  especially 
the  bright  red,  purple,  and  yellow  tints  of  the  maple. 
The  leaves  of  these  trees  and  of  the  scrub  oak  had 
been  made  to  change  colour  by  the  late  frost  of  the 
loth  of  this  month.     On  the  borders  of  the  road,  on 
each  side,  mixed  with  the  fragrant  "  sweet  fern,"  we 
eaw  abundance  of  the  Spiram  tomentom,  its  spike  of 
purplish  flowers  now  nearly  faded.      The   name   of 
"hard   hick"  was  given  to  it  by  the  first  settlers, 
because  the  stalk  •urncd  the  edge   of   the  mower's 
scythe.     There  were  also  golden  rods,  everlastings, 
nnd  asters  in  profusion ;  one  of  the  asters  being  called 
"frost  blow,"  because  floweritig  after  the  fi rat  frost. 
'  Wo  also  gathered  yn  the  ground  the  red  fruit  of  tho 


«• 


'     i 


asm 


~*  -  >r- ^—I, 


>. 


Chap.  IV.] 


PLANTS, 


57 


checkerberry  {Goulteria  procumhens),  used  in  Nbw 
England  to  flavour  sweetmeats.    By  the  side  of  these 
indigenous  plants  was  the  common  English  self-heal* 
{Prunella  vulgaris),  the  mullein  (  F(?r6a5CM»»  thapsws), 
and  other  flowers,  reminding  me  of  thefemark  of  an 
American  botianist,  that  ^ew  England  has  become 
the  garden  of*European  weeds;  so  that  in  some  ogri-* 
cultural  counti^  near  the  coast,  such  as  Essex  in 
Massachusetts,    the   exotj^cs   almost   outnumber  the 
native  plants.    It  is,  however,  found,  that  the  farther 
we  travel  northwards,  towards  the  region  where  North 
America  and  Europe  approach  each  other,  the  pro- 
portion  of -plants   specifically  common  to  the  two 
continents  is  constantly  on  the  increase ;  whereas  in 
passing  to  thewuore  southern  states  of  ^le  Union, 
we  find  almost  eveiy  indigenous  species  to  be  distinct 
from  European  plants. 

Although  the  nights  are  cold,  the  sun  at  mid-day 
IS  very  hot,  the  contrast  of  temperature  in  the  course 
of  each  twenty-four  hours  being  great,  like  that  of 
the  summer  and  winter  9f  this  climate. 

We  journeyed  on  ove|,very  tolerable  roads  without 
paying  turnpikes,  one  only,  [  am  told,  being  esta- 
blished in  all  Mailie.  The  o4)en8e8  of  making  and 
repairing  the  highways  are  defmyed  b^  local  taxes,  a 
surveyor  being  appointed  for  eac^  district.  We  went 
through  the  villages  of  Gorham,  Standish,  Baldwin, 
Hiram,  and  Bloomficld  to  Con>^y,  and  then  began 
to  enter  the  mountains,  the  mmery  constantly  im- 
proving aa  we  proceeded.  Here  and  there  we  saw 
Indian  corn  cultivated,  but  the  summer  of   Maine 


«i 


/ 


o  5 


\ 


^1 


I 


5§ 


CHURCHES— SCHOOL-HOUSES.      [Ghap.  IV. 


and  New  Hampshire  18  often  too  short  to  bring  this 
-grain  to  maturity. 

Usually,  in  a  single  village  we  saw  three,  four,  or 
five  churches,  each  representing  a  different  denomi' 
n^ion;  the  Congregationalists,  Baptists,  Methodists, 
and,  now  and  then,  though  more  rarely,  the  Unita- 
rians. Occasionally,'  in  some  quiet  spot  yfliere  two 
village  roa(Js  ct-oss,  we  saw  a  small,  simpld  building, 
and  learnt  that  it 'was  the  free  or  common  school 
provided  by  Idw,  opfen  to  All,  not  aicc^ted  as  a  bounty 
but  claimed  as  a  right,  where  the  children  of  rich  and 
poor,  high  and  low,  afid  of*  every  sect,  m6et  upon 
werfect  equality.  It  is  a  received  political  maxim 
here,  that  society  is  bound  to  provide  educatk)ti,  as 
well  as  security  of  life  and  property,  for  all  its 
members. 

One  evening,  as  we  were  drawing  near  to  a 
^raggling  village,  in  the  twilight,  we  were  recom- 
mended by  a  traveller,  whom  we  had  met  on  the 
road,  to  take  up  our  quarters  at  a  tempeiTOlce  hotel, 
where,  he  said,  "there  would  be  no  loafers  lounging 
and  drinking  drams  in  the  bar-i-ootn."  We  looked  out 
for  the  sign,  and  soon  saw  it,  surmounted  by  a 
martin-house  of  four  stories,  each  diminishing  in  size 
from  the  bottom  to  the  top,  "'but  all  the  apartments 
now  empty,  the  birds  having  taken  flight,  warned  by 
the  late  frost.  Wo  had,  indeed,  been  struck  with  the 
dearth  of  the  feathered  tribe  in  Maine  at  this  season, 
the  greater  number  of  birds  being  migratory.  As 
soon  as  our  carriage  stopped  at  the  dooi*,  we  were 
ushered  by  the  host  and  his  wife  into  a  small  parlour. 
Whore  we  found  a  blazing  wood  fire.     It  was  their 


■>•'!    -'If" 


'■   % 


tuAf.  iV.]  TEMPEHANCE  HOTEL.  5^ 

'private  sitting-room  at  times,  when  they  had  no 
■guests,  and  on  ihe  tab%,were  books  on  a  variety  of 
subjects,  but  most  of  them  of  a  religious  or  serious 
^/^  character,  as  Bishop  Watson's  Apology  in  reply  to 
Tom  Paine.  We  saw,  also,  a  treatise  on  Phrenology,! 
styled  «  The  only  True  Philosophy,*'  aB[d  Shakspeare, 
?i!fld  the  poems  of  Cowper  and  Walter  Scott.  In 
each  window  were  placed  two  chairs,  not  ready  to  be 
occupied,  as  they  'would  be  in  most  countries,  but 
placed  face  to  face,  or  with  their  fronts  touching  each 

,       other;,  the  usual  fashion  in  New  England. 

On  one  of  the  walls  was  seeii,  jin  a  gilt  frame,  the 

ll^  Declaration  of  Independence,  with  all  the  signatures 
of  the  subscribers,  surrounded  by  vignettes  oi:  portjrtdta 
of  all  the  ten  presidents  6{  the  United  States,  from 
General  Washington  to  Mr.  Tyler.  On  another 
side  of  the  room  was  a  most  formidable  likeness  of 
Daniel  Webster,  being  an  engraving  published  in 
Connecticut.  Leaning  over  ^he  ix)rtrait  of  the  great 
s^tesman,  is  represented  an  aged  man  holding  u 
lantern  in  his  hand,  and,  lest  the  meaning  of  so  clafl- 
sical  an  allusion  should  be  lost,  we  read  below  — 


"  Dio}?ene8  his  lantern  needs  no  JMore,      ,,j,^ 
^An  h«^t  man  i8..foQnd,  the- search  is  o'eri" 

While  supper  wa§  preparing,  I  turned  over  a  heap 
of  newspapers,  of  varioggphades  of  politics.  One  of 
them  oontiined  a  spirited  reply  to  ti^j^iug  article 
of  an  extreme  democratic  journal,  ^Rch  had  en- 
larged on  a  favourite  text  of  the  popular  party, 
"  The  wIk)1o  of  Oregon  is  ours."  In  another  I  saw, 
in  large, type,   "The    continent,    the   whole    conl 


/ 


w 


:'i\.. 


€  ^^ 


""""""""""PPiiiii 


%  T 


\\  '^ 


8:1  • ' 


^'^t 


^ 


•  PROVINCIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

tineflt  down  to||lie  isthmus ; "  so  that  bt, 
^  yet  fairly  ann^d,  the  imagination  of 
•  territory  ll^ealofi  bas  incorp(^atedi|ll  M« 
r-  ^p"**^  Americ^^  into  thffc,lJ]J|on. 'fin 
•4?^were  recorded;  ^(%|ual,  tbqMipies  M  g 
;    lutio»ary  soldie/s^d  eigfrf^ve  a^'^ihofc  and  I 

-  spent  some  miniUa  |F  wopdeiing  wtg  themrKbfbuglfAi 
•    for  re^ublicp  indbpe^ence  Kife  ]^ 
^^r.^»^^AAA  ^n.  ioiigeyity^  till  it  ociri^lo  im  tl 

l-SKg^m-f^^^-'  ^^^^^^  '^'^'^  (x>iif<*^.  A '  die: 
*'j.»'Mifeffi«^;4)|I^I^    Among  other  electioneering 

tli^  follovjang :  *<  Fellow  democrats, 
ji'e  upon  us,  the  Whi^s  j^e  striving  to 

•^  "^*li  -  •  ■    ^^  ^^^  ranks,  but  our  obj^:  must  be  to 

^  '^*c»  ^Hhe  senate  a  sterling  democratic     Such 
'^  jg;  »'^  appeal  it  electors  who  are  to  fill  up  afiacancy  in 
.#e.  uiore  cbnseryative  branch  of  the   Cotogress   at 
Washington,'  is  sufficiently  startling  to  anEnglish- 
man.     Another  article,  headed  "  Henry  01%-,  Presi- 
dent for  1.848,">eomed  amost  premature  anticipation 
of  a  future  and  distant  contest;  Mr.  Polk  having  just 
been  choseti  for  ih.e  toext.  four  years  as  first  magistrate, 
after  maqy  months  of  excitement  and  political  tur- 
moil.    Yet,  upolii   the  whole,  the  provincial  news- 
papers appear  to  me  to  aboupd  in  pseful  and  instruetivd 
matter,  with  many' well-selected  exti^acts  from  modern 
publications,  especially  travels,  abstracts  of  lectures 
on  temperance   or  literary   and-  scientific    subject*, 
letters   on'   agriculture,  or  some  point  ojipolitical 
economy  or  commercial,  legislation)     ICvJU|^party 
politics,  the  cheapness  of  the  innumerabflPly  and 
weekly  pai)^nnableB  every  villag^|gp^'wW  is 


V     / 


M 


1^ 


<> 


■Chap  IV.]   INTELLIGENCE  OF  NeW  ENQLANDERS.   61 

said  on  more  than  one  side  of  each  que^tion^  and  this 
has  a  tendency,  to  make  "the   multitude  think  £«;.' 
themselves,  and   become   well   informed  co  '  public 
affairs.  >     '  " 

■  We  happened  to  be  the  only  strangers  in  the  tavern, 
and,  when  supper  was  brought  in  by  the  landlord  and 
.      his  wife,  they  sat  down  beside  us,  begged  us.  to  feel  at 
home,  pressed  us  to  eat,  arid  evidently  considered  us  ' 
-more  in  the  light  of  guests  whom  they  must  entertain 
.  -niospitably,  than  as  customers.     Our  hostess,  in  par- 
ticular,  who  had  a  number  of  young  children  and  no 
nurse  to  help  her,  was  willing  to  put  herself  to  some 
inconvemendfe  rather  than  run  the  risk  of  our  feeling 
lonely.     .Their  manners  were   pleasing,  and,  when 
they  learnt  that  we  were  from  England,  they  asked 
many  questions   about   the  free-kirk  movement  in 
Scotland,  and  how  far  the  system  of  national  education 
ther^  differed  from  that  in  Prussia,  on  which  the 
landlord  had  been  reading  an  article  in  a  magazine. 
Ihey  ^fire  greatly  amused  when  I  told  them  that 
some  of  the  patriots  of  their  State  had  betr^red  tome 
no  slight  sensitiveness  and  indignation  ab'out  an  ex- 
pression imputed  t6  Lord  Palmerston  in  a  recent 
debate  on  the  Canadian  border-feud,  wheii  he  spoke 
of  "the  wi7rf  people  of  Maine."  ] 

They  wore  piost  curious  to  learn  the  names  of  the 
rocks  and  plants  we  had  collected,  and  told  us  that 
at  the  free  »Qho6!  ^hey  had  been  taught  the  elemefats 
of  geology  and  botdiny.  ^  They  informed  us  that  in 
these  rural  districts,  many^who  teach  in  the  winter 
months  spend  thjt  money  thfey  receive  for  their  salary 
m  eduoating  thema^ea  in  gome  coUege  during  th^ 


•.\ 


* 


«: 


I 


I. 


I 


62  CLIMATE  — CONSUMPTION.         [Chap.  IV. 

remainder  of  the  year ;  so  that  a  clever  youth  miy  in 
this  way  rise  from  the  humblest  station  to  the  bar  or 
pulpit,  or  become  a  teacher  in' a  large  town.     Farm 
-labourers  in  the  State,  besides  being  boarded  and 
found  in  clothes,  receive  ten  dollars  or  two  guineas  a 
month  wages,  out  of  which  the>  may  save  and  "go 
west,"  an  expression  everywhere  equivalent  to  bet- 
tering one's  condition.     «  The- prospect  of  Heaven 
Itself,"  says. Cooper,  in  one  of  his  novels,  "would 
have  no  charms  for  an  American  of  the  back-woods, 
if  he  thought  there  was  any  place  further  west." 

I  remarked  that  most  of  the  farmers  and  labourers 
had  pale  complexions  and  a  care-worn  look.     "  This 
was  owing  partly,"  said  the  landlord,  "  to  the  cHmate, 
for  many  were  consumptive,  and  the  changes  from 
mtense  heat  to  great  cold  are  excessive  here ;  and 
partly  to  the  ambitious,  striving   character  of  the 
natives,  who  are  not  content  to  avoid  poverty,  but 
expect,  and  not  without  rekson,  to  end  their  days  in 
a  station  far  above  that  from  which  they  start."     We 
were  struck  with  the  almost  entire  absenc^cf  the 
Negro  race  in  Maine,  the  winter  of  this  Stalb- being 
ill-smted  to  them.     The  free  blacks  are  in  great  part 
paupers,  and  supported  by  til  poor  laws.    We  fell  in 
with  a  few  parties  of  itinerant  Indians,  roaming  about 
the  country  like  our  gypsies. 

Resundng  our  journey,  we  stopped  at  an  inn  where 
a  great  many  mechanics  biDarded,  taking  three  meals 
a-day  at  the  ordinary;  They  were  well-dresse^,  but 
their  coarse  (though  clean)  hands  announce^  their 
ordinary  occupation.  After  dinner  several  of  them 
went  into  the  drawing-room,  where  s^me  "ladiet" 


,  * 


^W^    Tyv)f  . 


Chap.  IV.]  DIVISION  or  PROPERTY.  63 

Of  their  own  class  were  playing  on  a  piano-forte- 
other  mechanics  were  reading  newspapers  and  books 
but  after  a  sKort  stay  they  all  returned  to  their  work. 
On  looking  at  the  books  they  had  laid  down,  I  found 
that  onewasD'Israeli's  "Cpningsby,"  another  Burns' 
^oems,  and  a  .third  an  article  just  reprinted  from 
irazers  Magazine,  on  "'the  Policy  of  Sir  Robert 

As  we  passed  through  Conway,  seeing  there  was 
but  one  meeting-hou86, 1  asked  to  what  denomination 
It  belonged.     The  reply  was,  «  Orthodox."    I  went 
on  to  say  that  the  place  seemed  to  be  thriving.     My 
informant  replied,  with  evident  satisfaction,  "Yes 
and  every  man  here  is  his  own  tenant,"  meaning  that 
they  all  owned  the  houses  and  lands  they  occupied.^. 
To  be  a  lessee,  indeed,  of  a  farm,  .^here  acres  may  be^ 
bought  so  cheap,  is  a  rare  exception  to  the  general 
rule  throughout  the  United  States.     The  approach 
to  an  equal  subdivision  of  property  among  children, 
18  not  the  result  here  of  a  compulsory  law,  as  in 
France,  but  of  custom;  and  I  was  surprised  to  find 
how  much  the  partition  is  modified,  according  to  the 
individual  views  of  the  testator.      I  was  assured, 
indeed,   by   persons    on    whose    authority    I   could 
depend,  that  in  nine  oases  out  often  the  small  worM 
mg  farmerl  in  New  England  do  not  leave  their  prS 
perty  in  equal  shares  to  ^eir  children,  as  the  law 
would  distribute  it  if  they  <Jied  intestate.     It  is  very 
common,  for  example,  to  leave  the  sons  twice  as 
much  as  the  daughters,  and  frequently  to  give  the 
^:^^!»  ^^^  ^*°<^'  requiring  him  to  pay  small  lega- 
-g^gge  others.    In  the  caao^  ono  of  my  aoquaiat- 


|i 


>  ii 


t 


'1 


w- 


^-t'i. 


■?ij" 


t 


If, 


I  -     f 


"L 


^: 


■*» 


%->■ 


64 


DIVISION  OF  PKOPERTY.         [Chap.  IV. 


'^ons  ha4  larger  shares  than  the 
provided,  that  if  one  of  the  two 
1>  the  other  should  take  all  his  share.     As 
afineral  rule,  the  larger  the  estate  the  greater  is  the 
inequality  of  partition  among  the  children.    When  I 
inquired  into  the^pp||(p|  wh^h  the  twelve  or- 
fourteen  largest  fol!ffi!eMuch  as  woul<f  rankas  con- 
siderable in  England,  hrfd  been  bequeathed  in  Boston        \ 
and  its  vicinity,  and  in  New  York,  I  was  astonished  to 
learn  that  none  of  them  had  been  left  in  equal  shares 
among  the  children  by  men  of  English  descent,  the 
one  and  only  exception  being  that  of  a  Frenchman. 
In  the  more  newly  settled  StatesJ  thisre  is  less  in- 
equality in  the  distribution  both  of  real  and  personal' 
R|:operty;  but  this  isjrioubtless^n  no  small  degree    * 
connected  with  the  more  modeptfe  size  of  thl«4-tune8 
there.     The  ideas  entertained  in  some  of  these  ruder 
palts,  of'the  country,  of  the  extreme  destitution  of 
the  j^linger  children  of  aristocratic  families  in  Great 
Britain,  are  often ^ost  mistaken  and  absurd ;  1%ugh 
particular  insta»c6%n  Scotlan^  springing  out  of  the 
oW  sy^m  o^jeiltaifi,  ipay  have  naturally  giveB  rise 
to  err^l^us'^neralillktions.     It  was  evident  to  me 
»  that  fbyr*  if  any,  of  these  critics,  hfd  eyer  regarded 
primogem^  as  an  inj^ral  |)qrtpi  of  a  great  poli- 
tical sys^whoUy-dflKfent^froih  the^  ow^^  the 
merits  of  vhich  cannot  ^ytefe  tried  by  a  r^6blioan 
Standard.     ^   ,      ^   f^^^  / 

Both  in  New  iS^^and^m  the  State  of  New 

4^  York,  I  teeocd  ma^pt^hiints  of  th"e  inadequacy  of 

the  capital  belongiJig  to  small  landed  proprietors  to 

n^ake  their  acres  yield  the  greatest  amount  of  pro» 


'Mr^*'        'Pvi^'^ 


Chap.  IV.]      EVERY  MAN  HIS  OWN  TENANT.  65 

duce  with  the  least  expenditure  of  means.    They  are 
often  so  crippled  with  debt  and  mortgages,  paying 
high  mterest,  that  they  cannot  introduce  many  im- 
provements in  agriculture,  of  which  they  are  by  no 
means  ignorant.      Nevertheless,   the  farmers  Here 
cpnstitute  a  body  of  resident  yeomen,  industrious 
and  intelligent ;  absenteeism  being  almost  unknown, 
owing  to  the^reat  difficulty  of  letting  farms,  and 
the  owners   being   spread   equally  over  the  .whole 
country,  to  look  af|pr  the  roads  and  village-schools, 
and  to  see  that  there  is  a  post-office  even  in  each 
remote  mountain  hamlet.    The  pride  and  satisfaction 
felt  by  men  who  till  the  land  which  is  their  own,  is, 
moreover,  no  small  advantage,  although  one  which  a 
pohtic^  economist,  treating  solely  of  the  production 
of  wealth,  may  regard  as  lying  out  of  his  province. 
As  a  make-weight,  however,  in  our  estimate  of  the 
ainount  of  national  happiness  derived  from  landed 
property,  it  is  not  to  be  despised ;  and  where  «  every 
gjPkn  18  his  own  tenant,'',a8  at  Conway,  the  evils  of 
^t  leases,  of  ejectments  on  political  grounds,  or   ' 
disputes  about  poaching  and  crimes  connected  with 
the  gamd-laws  are  unknown. 

^'  After  parsing  Conway,  we  had  fairly  enimd  the 
mountains  of  New  Hampshire,  and  enjoyelftme 
rambles  over  the  hills,  delighted  with  the  floond  of 
rushing  torrents  and  the  wildness  of  the  scenery 
Ihad  sometimes  remarked  in  Norway  that  the  birch 
Wes  are  so  equally  intermixed  with  dark  pines,  as  to 
imi^rt,  by  the  contrast  of  colours,  a  spotted  appear- 
ance to  the  woods,  not  always  picturesque ;  but  here 
1  saw  the  dark  green  hemlock  in  one  pin..,  o..i  tho 


n'-i 


feifeiAA.itel<itjt. 


./ 


//"" 


66 


AUTUMNAL  TINTS. 


fGHAp.  rv. 


i 


I 


V  i  HI 


maples,  with  their  briinant  autumnal  foliage  in 
another',  grouped  in  such  masses  on  the  steep  slppee 
of  the  hills,  as  i»  produce  a  most  agreeable  effect. 
There  were  many  birch  trees,  with  their  white  bark, 
and  oaks,  with  red  autumnal  tints,  and  an  under^ 
growth  of  kalmia,  out  of  flower,  but  ^ill  conspicuous 
by  its  shining  leaves.  The  sweet  £&m  {(jomptonia) 
no  longer  appeared  on  this  high  ground,  and  was  re- 
placed by  the  true  fern,  called  here  "bratke,"  being 
Our  common  English  species  {Pteris  aquilina).  On 
the  low  hills  of  granite  were  many  huge  angular 
fragments  of  that  rock,  fifteen,  and  some  of  them 
twenty  feet  in  diameter,  resting  on  heaps  of  sand. 
They  wer6  of  a  light  grey  colour,  with  large  crystals 
of  felspar,  and  reminded  me  of  the  granite  Of  Arran 
in  Scotland.  As  we  followed  the  windings  of  the 
river  Saco,  I  observed,  in  the  bottom  of  the  valley, 
alluvial  terraces,  composed  of  clay,  sand,  gravel,  and 
boulders,  forming  flats  at  different  elevations,  as  we 
see  in  many  parts  of  Scotland,  and  other  mountain 
valleys  in  Europe. 

Although  we  heard  much  talk  of  the  late  frost, 
there  were  still  abundant  signs » of  the  sun's  power, 
such  as  large  grasshoppers,  with  red  wings^  called 
here  shakers,  and  tortoises  ( Testudo picta)  wandering 
from  one  pond  to  another.  In  the  retired  paths  many 
squirrels  allowed  us  to  pass  very  near  to  them  with- 
out being  alarmed.  The  bear  once  extended,  like 
the  beaver,  over  the  whole  of  New  England;  but  the 
beaver  has  been  every  where  extirpated,  afiid  the  bear 
driven  into  the  mountains.  From  these  retreats  they 
still  make  annual  depredations  on  the  fields  of  Indian 


I 


V 


f 


Chap.  IV.] 


WILLEY  SLIDE. 


67 


corn,  and  the  farmers  retaliate,  not  only  by  thlnnipff 
them  with  their  riflea,  but   by  taking  what  soml 
sportsmen  would  consider  a  very  unfeir  advantage 
over  them.     On  the  first  spring-like  day,  Bruin^who 
has  been  hybemating  for  seTcral  months  in/a  cave, 
ventures  out,  before  the  snow  has  quite  melted,  to 
take  a  look  at  the  countj^  j  then  retires  agdn  to  his 
i»;ding  place,  which  the  hunter  discovers  by  foUowing 
his  foot  tracks  on  the  snow,  and  digs  him  out  of  his 
hole.    Near  Bartlett  I'  was  taken  to  see  the  skeleton 
of  a  bear  that  had  been  lately  kiUed.     The  farmers 
told  me  that  the  racoons  do  much  damage  here;  by 
devouring  the   Indian  corn,  but  the  opossum  does 
not  extend  so  far  to  the  north* 

On  the  second  day  after  leaving  Conway  we  en^ 
tered  a  wUd  and  narrow  ^lountain  pass,  with  steep 
declivities  on  both  sides,  where  the  hills  cannot  be 
less  than  1000  or  1500  feet  in  vertical  height.    Here 
the  famous  landslip,  caUed  the  Willey  Slide,  occurred 
m  August,  1826.     The  avalanche  of  earth,   stones, 
and  trees  occurring  after  heavy  rains,  was  so  sudden, 
that  It  overwhelmed  all  the  Willey  family,  nine  in 
number,  who  would  have  escaped  had  they  remained 
m  their  humble  dwelling;  for,  just  above  it,  the  muddy' 
torrent  was  divided  into  two  bnibches  bya  projecting 
rock.     The  day  after  the  catlastrophe  a  candle  was 
found  on  the  table,  of  their  deserted  room,  burnt 
down  to  the  socl^t^the  Bible  lying  open  beside  it. 
1  was  curious  t^^^xAHJine  the  effects  of  this  and  other 
slides  of  the  same'^^hi  the  White  Mountains,  to 
ascertain  what  effect  th6  passage  of  mud  and  heavy 
^t^nes  might  have  had  in  furrowing  the  hard  gurfacea  _ 


* 


-'.'M 


►  1 


j  tl 


VJ- 


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% 


">.^-r 


; !  i 


■^ 


r- 

!  : 


hj^ 


^ 


I 


rr- 


V 


■V 


6a 


THEORY   OF   SCRATCHES 


[Chap,  IV. 


"^ 


of  bared  rocks  over  which  they  had  passed  ;  it  having 
been  a  matter  of  controversy  among  geologjlsts,  how 
far  those  straight  rectilinear  grooves  and  scratclies 
before  alluded  to*,  might  havd  been  the  result  of" 
glacial  action,, or  whether  they  can  be  accounted  for 
by  assuniing  that  deluges  of  mud  an^  .heavy  .stones 
have  swept  over  the  dry  land.  A  finer  opportunity 
of  testing  the  adequacy  of  th^^ cause  laBt  pientioned 
cannot  be  conceived  than  i»  afforded  by  tht^t hills; 
for,  in  consequence,  appareiitly,  of  the  jointed  struc- 
ture of  the  rocks  and  their  decoai|)08ition  produced 
by  great  variation?  of  temperature  (for, they  are  pb- 
jected  to  intense  summer  heat  and  winter's  cold  in 
the  course  of  the,  year),  there  is^always  a  consider- 
able mass  of  superficial  detritus  ready  to  be  xietached 
during  very  heavy  rains,  even  where  th^steep  slopes 
are  covcr<!d  witli  tiniber.  Such  ^.valanches  begin  from 
small  points,  and,  aftei"  d^c'ehding  a  few  hundred 
ytirds,  cut  into  tlie  mountain  side  a  deep  trench,  :Which 
'becomes  rapidly  broadef'arid  dpepcr,  arid  thisy'lbear^ 
downj)cforethcm  the  loftiest  trees,  and  the  soil  in  whiflji'' 
they  arc  rooted.  S^me  of  these  masses  have  slid  two 
or  three  miles,  with  an  aj^ggc  breadth  of  a  (luarter 
>of  a  mile ;  and  so  large  Jlj^io  rt)cky  fragments,  that 
I  found  some  of  tlicin,  which  came  do;«ln  in  the  Wil- 
ley  Slide,  to  measure  from  fourteen  to  twenty  feet 
in  diameter.  I  also  aMf^rtarned  that  the  ste^  slopeH 
«»f  bare  rock  over  wlucli  tlicy  had  passed,  were  in- 
clined, in  some  Instances,  at  ivngl^'S  of  twenty  to 
tiiirty  degrees  with  the  liori^on.     Affer'  clambering 

"•  /  •  Ante,  p.  8.  , 


k; 


^^ 

J 

^ 

.  '  i  ■•/ 


*  M 

m  J 


frf>7^ 


~  -# 


.t^-Ji! 


t 


r>^ 


1    1. 


Chap.  IV.]  AND  GrqovEQ  ON  R0CK.?1  ,       gf^'     ' 

,    up  moref.th«n  400  feet  above  thp  level  of  the  Sado  "■ 
on  Its  right  banfe,  I  reached  a  space  of  naked  rock,' 
fifteen  feet  square,  over  which  my  guide,  the  elder     " 
Crawford    told  me  that  the  whole  contents  bf  the 
Wiiley  Slide,  had  8we|)t  in  1826;  which-was  indeed 
evident,  for  i^Jay  in  the  direct  line  of  ^he  great  trench     ' 
cut  through  the^forest  above  ^d  below.  /'    ■ 

There  ^  a  small  cataract  at  the  spot,  where  a  dyke     • 
ot  |)as^lt  and  greenstone,  four. or  five  feet  wide,  tra- 
verses the  granite,  all  the  rocks  being  smoothed  on    ' 
^  the  surface    and  nimrked  with  some  ir%„lar  and 
short  scratches  ^nd  grooves ;  but  not  such  as  resem- 
ble  in  continurty,  sirdightness,  or  pai-allolism,  those     " 
.  produced   by  a  glacier,    where'  hard  stones,    which 
grate  along  the  bottom,  have  been  firmly  fixed  in  a 
heavy  mass  o£  ice.  so  that  they  cannot  be  deflected 
rroni  a  rectilinear  course. 

r  am  aware  that  glrtciers  and  icebergs  are  not  the 
oq/y  means  by  which  the  gVooving  and  perishing  of 
the  faces  ofroc^s  may  be  caulcd;  for  similar  ^ntu      ' 
>nay  arise  on  Iho  sidea  of  figures  whore  stony  masses  ' 
Imvo  been  rept  asunder,  and  moviHl   upwards  and 
downwards;  or  made  t,.  yibrtite  during  earthquakes.  ■ 
_  «o  that  the  .opposite  walls  arc  rilW)od  ngairynt  c«nch 
other^    But  we.  cannot  atti^ite  .to  this  cnu.e  the 
Hiiperficial  markings  now  ccHiunonly  referred  to  da. 
oml  nfction  in  Europe  and  North  America ;  and  wha?  .    " 
Isaw  at  the- WiUey  Slide,  and  other  places  in  thJ^ 
^Wlutx,  Mqimtaiiv.  co,|4inccd   me  ,that  a  scuhi-fluid  '     • 
mmoi  mud  and  stmieUuisJ^ always  have  too  autcl, 
froeddiY,  of  motiiui.  ai.d V{o«roiy,ily  tui^unl  aside  by. 
every  obstacle  and  ineq^ualiJ^  m  ihd  8h«i>e  6i  t\L  *  ?:^ 


1/     ' 


>-:  A, 


>4i 
I* 

h 


*f: 


M^'l 


'•>' 


M 


^ 


iSt' 


% 


"1- 


t  i^"      "         1   ■V*"^        ^'^/■^' 


\  .^ 


.I'i 


/i 


\s. 


70 


FOREST   TREES. 


[Ohap.  IV. 


rocky  floor,  to  enable  it  to  sculpture  out  long  and' 
str^ght  furrows. 

From   the  Willey   Slide   we  continued  our  way 
along  the  bottom  of  the  narrow  valley  of  the  Saco, 
listening  with  pleasure  to  the  river  as  it  foamed  and 
roared  over  its  stony  bed,  and  admiring  two  water- 
falls, broken  into  sheets  of  white  foam  in  their  de- 
scent.    The  scene  became  more  grand  as  we  entered 
the  defile  called  the  Notch,  where,  although  the  sun 
was  high,  the  lofty  crags  threw  dark  shadows  across 
our   path.     On  either   hand   were  wild  and  nearly 
perpendicular  precipices,  the  road,  on  the  side  over- 
hanging the  Saco,  being  usually  protected  by  para- 
pets of  stone  or  timber.     A  steep  ascent  led  us  up  to 
a  kind  of  pasis  or  water-shed,  where  thcirc  was  an  inn 
kept  by  one  of  the  Crawford  family,  well  known  in 
this   region,    which    remined   me  of  some  of  tho^e 
liotels  i>erched  in  similar  wild  situations  in  the  Alps, 
as  on  the  Simplon  and  (Jrimsel.   We  learnt  tlmt  snow 
had  fallen  here  in  the  second  week  of  September,  and 
the  higher  hills  had  been  whitened  for  a  time;  but 
they  are  now^  again  uncovoreid.     Already  the  ele- 
vation has  produced  a  marked  change  in  the  vegeta- 
tion,—the  hemlock,  the  spruce,  the  balm  of  Gilead 
fir  {IHnus  fjulmmea),  and  the  white  pine,  beginning 
to  form,  with  the  bir^h,  a  large  profwrtion  of  the 
forest  jncs.     The  whit(;  |)ino,  ciUled  in  England  tljp 
Weymouth  pine  (/'/«»/*  strohun),  is  the  most  mag- 
nificent in  size.     It  flomotirni^*«  attains  a  diameter  of 
5  feet,  and  a  height  of  150  feet,  both  here  and  in 
other  parts  of  New  Hampshire  and  Mairie;  but  it  is 
.very  rare  to  meet  with  such  tries  j^qy,  the  finest 


Jt; 


ft. 


■71 


Chaf.  iv.j  mountain  plants. 

bougha  of  the  spruce  hung  with  a  graceful  whit^ 
hchen,  called  Old  Man'a  Beard  (DiL  iarj^  , 
European  epec.ee.     The  common  fern  (I^eris  aL- 

Ide  ZZu"'""'  .*'"'  '"°'''  '^"-"^  ""*'  «'»  dirk. 
rf«de  of  the  woods,  and  all  the  rotting  trunke  of 

fallen  trees  arc  matted  oyer  with  a  beautiful  green 
■  <^rpet  of  moss,  formed  almost  entirely  of  the  feafhery 
leaves  of  one  of  the  most  elegant  of  the  tribe  ,1^ 
oocurnng  i,,  S^tland  (IIyp„un.  Crista  e™^  ;:5^ 
Sev^I  k,nds  of  club  moss  (LyeopoUiun,).  which,  like 
Om  Hypnum,  were  m  full  fructification,  f„rn,  also  « 
conspicuous   part  of   the   herbage;    especially    1 

.te^name,  L.  dcndrMeun,,  from  six  to  eight  inches 

Oo^  5. -Penetrating  still  further  into  the  moun- 
tams,  we  established  „„rsclverin  pl««ant  quarTs 
for  several  daye  at  *',,by«„'s  Hotel?  thirty-two  ■! 

Zntr^'  r""'^  '"'  «-»?-«'e'to  as™  d 
Mount  W„.h,„gton.  Whenever  ihe  rain  ceWd  for 
a  few  hours  wo  explored  the  lowpr  hills,  and  wore 

walk,,  one  of  the  ablest  iH.tanisiii  in  America   Mr 
W,H,.„,  Oake,.,  of  Ipawich.  Ma«achu..vtt,,  wh"  i 

the   Wlut(5  Mountains.      I„  cmo  of  onr  a»«      • 
wit.,  him  .0  see  the  falls  of  thetfri::^: 

♦  Sinw?  writing  tho  Rbovo,  T  hnvo  hoanl  wio/.i 


iii1»#ri  irii^iiiiii  ir'fii'-  j^  ,  ..^i  : 


,-   ,,ij.i  .,.„  .> 


\ 


72 


ECHO. 


[Chap.  IV. 


y: :( j 


, 


I' 


H 


;• 


i-i 


II 


\ . 


showed  us  several  places  where  the  Linncea  borealii 
was  growing,  now  in  fruit.  I  had  seen  this  plant  in 
flower  in  Nova  Scotia  in  July,  1842,  but  was  not 
prepared  to  find  it  extending  so  much  farther  south- 
wards, having  first  known  it  as  characteristic  of  Nor- 
way, and  of  great  Alpine  heights  in  Europe.  But  I 
was  still  more  surprised  when  I  learnt,  from  Mr. 
Oakes,  that  it  descends  even  into  the  wooded  plains 
of  New  Hampshire,  under  favour  of  a  long  winter 
and  of  summer  .fogs,  near  the  sea.  What  is  moist 
singular,  between  Manchester  atid  Cape  Mine,  lat. 
42^30'  N„  it  inhabits -the  same  swamp  with  the 
Magnolia  glauca.  The  Arctic  LinneBa,  trailing  along  ' 
the  ground  and  protected  from  the  sim  by  a  mag- 
nolia, affords  a  curious  example  of  the  meeting  of 
two  plants  of  genera  characteristic  of  very  different 
latitudes,  each  on  the  extreme  limits  of  its  northern* 
or  southern  range. 

One  evening,  during  our  stay  here,  #e  enjoyed 
listening  to  the  finest,  mountain  echo  I  ever  lieard. 
Our  host,  Fabyan^  played  a  few  clear  notes  on  a* 
horn,  which  were  distinctly  repeated  five  times  by 
the  echo,  in  softened  and  melodious  tones.  The 
third  repetition,  although"  coming  of  course  from  a 
greater  distaijcp,  was  louder  than  the  two  first,  which 
had  a  beautirul  effect,  and  may  be  (Aused  either  hy 
the  concave  form  of  the  rocks  being  more  favourable 
to  the  reflection  of  sound,  or  from  the  place  wlier*- 
we  stood  l?eii>g,  in  reference  to  that  distant  b|>o!, 
more  exactly  in  the  focus  of  the  ellipse. 

In  the  elevated  plain  at,  the  fimt  pf  th«  rootintains 
at  Kabyan's  there  is  a  long  superficial  ridge  of  gtavel, 


1    1 


'Vi>'' 


■*?<"^' 


X    ,■ 


CHiP.IVJ  iHE   OIANT'S  GRAVE.     .  '  73 

sand,  and  boulders,  having  the  same  appea^ce  a, 
hose  mounds  which  are  tem.^  "osar 'if^eder 

the  VMTT""'  "''•''"*  ""  "•"  P""'"'  «■">  is  called 
the  Giants  Grave;  but  in  general  such  geological 
appearances  as  are  usually  referred  to  the  glfcial 

f  loir.  ^"°*/''  '""  '"  ""^  "ountainsl  and 
I  looked  ,„  vam  for  glacial  furrows  and  stri«  „„  a 
broad  surface  of  smooth  granite  recently  exposed  on 
the  banks  of  the  Saco,  in  a  pit  where  gr!ve7  haS 
been  taken  out  for  the  repair  of  the  r<S  H„w 
far  the  rap.d  decomposition  of  theCjrranite  rocks 
»«Bg  to  the  vast  range  of  annual  te4rature  mav 


t 


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f-V  Av  ,y;:- 


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-^"1  'sysgp-^ 


^  ^^ 


♦ 


74  ASCENT  OF  MOUNT  WASHINGTON.     [Chap.  V. 


CHAP.  V. 


'\fS' 


Ascent  of  Mount  Washington.  —  Mr.  Oakes. — Zone's  of  Distinct 
Vegetation. — Belt  of  Dwarf  Firs.— Bald  Region  and  Arctic 
Flora  on  Summit. —  View  from  Sujnmit — Migration  of 
Phmts  from  Arctic  Regions.  —  Changi%f  Climate  since  Gla^ 
ami  Period.  —  Oranitic  Rocks  of  White  Mountains. — Fran- 
coma  Notch.  —  Revival  at  Bethlehem.  —-  MillerifdMovefnent. — 
The  Tabernacle  at  Boston.  —  Mormortg:'i=^Relmi'ks  on  New 
England  Fanaticism. 

■'  /  .  •  _ 

Oct.  7.  1846. — At  length,  with  a'  fair  promise  of 
brighter  weather,  we  started  at  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning  for  the  summit  of  Mount  Washington.  Its 
old  Indian  name  of  Agiocochook  has  been  dropped, 
as  too  difficult  for  Anglo-Saxon  ears  -or  memories. 
Its  summit  is  6225  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea; 
and  we  were  congratulated  on  the  prospect  of  finding 
it,  at  so  late  a  season,  entirely  fre^^from  snow.  Our 
party  consisted  of  nine,  all  mounted  on  well-trained 
horses, —  Mr.  Oakcs,  a  gentleman  and  his  wife, 
tourists  from  Maine,  a  young  Mew  England  artist, 
rayaelt*,  my  wife,  and  three  guides. 

A  ride  of  seven  miles  brought  us  to  the  foot  of  the 
mountain,  and  we  then  be|^n  to  thread  the  dark 
mazes  of  the  forest,  through  narrow  winding  paths, 
often  or(^ing  And  re-oroasing  the  bed  of  the  same 
torrcut,  imd  fording  its  waters,  which  occupied,  in 
spite  of  the  late  rains,  a  small  port  of  their  channel. 

The  firit,  or  lowest  zone  of  the  mountain,  ext^nd- 


''■•',■'.■» 


^mai*^ 


r^sgssB 


4» 


Chap|  v.] 


VEGETATION. 


75 


ing  Jrom  its  base  to  the  height  of  about  2000  feet 
and^kooo  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  is  clothed 
witl^  a  great  variety  of  wood.     Besides  the  hemlock 
spruce,  Weymouth,  and  other  pines  before  mentioned,' 

hi  T  Vt  Tt  ^^"^"*  f^rruff^nea),  three  kinds  of 
b;rch,  the  black,  the  yellow,  and  the  ^.\nte(iJ3etula  lenta, 
B.  lutea  an<J  B, papyracea)-,  also  the  rock  or  sucrar- 
maple  {Acer  saccharinum),  and  the  red  maple  (A^ru- 
brum),  exhibiting  autumnal  tints  of  every  colour 
from  orange  to  pale  yellow,  and  from  scarlet  to 
purple      The  undergrowth  was  composed  in  part  of 

Lrus      ™"l?~"''^'''"^^'"^^^  Mexican 

laurustinus,  and  the  service-tree  {Sorbus  americana\ 

with  Acer  montanum  and  Acer  striatum.      On  tlic 
ground  we  saw  the  beautiful  dwarf  dogwood  (Comus 
canadensis),  still  in  flower,  also  the  fruit  of  the  avroii 
or  cloud-berry,  here  called  fnulberry  ^Hubus  chamJ. 
mor«.)  well  known  on  the  Grampians,  and  the  wood- 
sorrel  (Oxa„  acetosella),   in   great    quantitv,   with 
Gaultkeria  hispidula.    .There  were  many  large  pros- 
rate  trees  in  various  stages  of  decay,  and  out  of  their 
runks  young  fir-sapli„gs,  which  had  taken  root  on 
the  bark,  were  seen  growing  erect. 

We  put  up  very  few  birds  as  we  rode  along,  for 
he  woods  arc  much  deserted  at  this  season.    A  small 
lapwing,  with  a  note  resembling  the  English  .pedes, 
flew, up  fVom  some  marshy  ground;  and  wc  saw  , 
blue  jay  and  a  brown  woodpecker  among  the  trees 
aBdoceosionally  a  small  M  like  a  tolit  (^Z 

{Hehx  tkymdes),  and  wa«  surprised  at  the  «ea«5itT  oV 
air-bmitfaing  ta,tacea  here  and  elsewhe,..  in   New 

. ^_j 


I  •       m 


.yJwM 


A'! 


u 


I 


IV 


76 


DWARF   FIRS. 


[Chap.  V. 


England,  where  there  is  so  vigorous  a  vegetation 
and  so  mutfh  summer  heat.  The  absence  of  lime  in 
the  granitic  rocks  is  the  chief  cause ;  but  even  in  the 
calcareous  districts  these  shells  are  by  no  means  as 
plentiful  as  in  corresponding  latitudes  in  Europe. 

When  we  had  passed  through  this  lowest  belt  of 

wood  the  clouds  cleared  away,  so  that,  on  looking 

back  to  the  westward,  we  had  a  fine  view  )3f  the 

mountains  of  Vermont  and  the  Camel's  Hump,  and 

were  the  more  struck  with  the  tnagnificent  extent  of 

the  prospect,  as  it  had  not  opened  upon  us  gradually 

during  our   ascent.     We  tlien   began  to  enter  the 

second  region,  or  zone  of  evergreens,  consisting  of  ^ 

the  black  spruce  and  the  Pinus  balsamea,  which  were 

at  first  mixed  with  other  forest  trees,  all  dwarfed  in 

height,  till  at  length,  after  we  had  ascended  a  few 

hundred  feet,  these  two  kinds  of  firs  monopolised  the 

entire  ground.     They  are  extremely  dense,  rising  to 

about  the  height  of  a  man's  he^d,  having  evidently 

been  prevented  by  the  cold  winds  from  ^jContinuing 

their  upward  growth  beyond  the  Ifevel  at  which  they 

dre  protected  by  the  snow.    All  their  vigour  seems  to 

have  been  exerted  in  throwing  out  numerous  strong 

horiasoi^al  or  pendant  branches,  each  treevcoyering  a 

considerable  area,  and  being  closely  int^^rwoven  wtth^ 

otheBS,  so  th&i  they  surround  the  mountain  with  a 

formidable  hedge  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  broad. 

The  innumerable  dead  boughs,  which,  after  growing 

for  a  time,  during  a  scries  of  milder  seasons,  to  a 

greatui'  height, ■have  then  been  killed  by  the  keen  blast, 


present  a  singular  appearance.     They  are  forked  and 
leafiess,  and  look   like  the    antlers  of  an  enormous 

1 

1 

1     t 
1 

.       -                            p                                   -                            ) 

'          '        .          ft,                                                                                                                  \  _ 

i 

-^ 


* 


:,.^, 


"f  J 


sWisS 


Chap.  V.] 


BALD  REGIOlf. 


77 


herd  of  dee^  elk.     This  thicket  opposed  a  serious 
obstacle  to  those  who  fii-st  ascended   the  mountain 
thirty  years  ago.  'Dr.  Francis  Boott,  among ithers, 
whose  description  of  his  ascent  in  1816,  given  to  me 
in  London  several   years   before,  made  me  resolve 
one  day  to  visit  the  scene,  was  compelled,  with  his 
companion.  Dr.  Bigelow,  to  climb  over  the  tops  and 
walk  on  the  branches  of  these  trees,  until  they  came 
to  the  bald  region.  A  traveller  now  passes  so  rapidly 
through  the  open  pathway  cut  through  this  belt  of 
firs,  that  he  is  in  danger,  while  admiring  the  distant 
view,  of  overiooking    its  peculiarities.      The  trees 
become  gradually  lower  and    lower  as  you  ascend, 
till  at  length  they  trail  along  the  ground  only  two 
or  three  inches  high ;  and  I  actually  observed,  at  the 
upper  margin  of  this  zone,  that  the  spruce  was  topped 
in  its  average  height  hy  the  common  reindeer  moss 
(  Lichen  rangiferinus).     According  to  Dr.  Bigelow  *, 
the  upper  edge  of  the  belt  of.cjwarf  firs  is  at  the 
height  of  4443  feet  above  the  ^    After  crossing  it 
we  emerged  into  the  bald  region,  devoid  of  wood,  rfnd 
had    stiji  io  'climb  about  1800  feet  higher,  before 
arrivingVat   the  summit.     Here  our  long  cavalcade 
was  seen  zigzagging  its  way  in  single  file  up  a  steep 
declivity  of  naked  rock,  consisting  of  gneiss  and  mica 
schist,  but  principally  the  latter  rock  intermixed  with 
mifch  white  quart?,     The  masses  of  qJartz  are  so 
generally  overgrown  with  that  bright-coloured  yel- 
lowlsh-greon  lichen,  so  common  *  the  Scotch  moun- 

*  Soe  his.expenpnt  accpunt  of  an  ascent  of  Mount  Wabh- 
ington  in  1ft  16,  Boston  Mediail  Joiirnill.  vot  v't.  .«^9] 


I'  I 


P    ' 


\ 


J' 


l^ 


\ 


•^ 


!\-  ■ 


78 


ARCTIC   FLORA. 


[€hap.  v. 


■# 


tains  (Lichen  geograpMcus),  that  thl'^^ole  surface 
acquires  a  corresponding  tint,  visible  from  a  great 
diatance.      This  highest   region  is  characterised  by 
an  assemblage  of  Alpine  or  Arctic  plants,  now  no 
longer  in   flower,  and   by  a  variety  of  mosses  and 
lichens  specifically  identical  with  those  of  Northern 
Europe.     Among  these,  ^e  saw  on  the  rocks  the   . 
Parmelia  centrifugal  a  lichen  common  in  Sweden, 
but  not  yet  met  with  in  Great  Britain,  of  a  greenish- 
white  colour,  which,  commencing  its  growth  from  a 
point,  gradually  spreads  on  ail  sides,  and  deserts  the 
central   space.      It  then  assumes  an  annular  form, 
^nd  its  reddish-brown  shields  of  fructification,  scat- 
tered over   the  margin,  remind  one,  though  on  a 
miniature  scale,  of  those  «  fairy  rings  "  on  our  En- 
lawns,  which  appear  to  be  unknown  in  America, 
here  fungi,  or  mushrooms,  are  seen  growing  in 
le. 
he  flora  of   the  uppermost  region  of  Mount 
ington  consists  of  species  which  are  natives  of 
the  cold  climate  of  Labrador,  Lapland,  Greenland, 
and  Siberia,  and   are    impatient,    says   Bigelow,  of  ^ 
drought,, as  well  as  of  both  extremes  of  heat  and  cold ; 
they  are  therefore  not  at  all  fitted  to  flourish  in  the 
f)rdinary  climate  of  New  England.  But  they  are  pre- 
served here,  during  winter,  from  injury,  by  a  great 
depth  of  snow,  and  the  air  in  summer  never  attains,  at 
this  elevation,  too  high  a  temperature,  while  the  ground 
below  is  always  cool.     When  the  snow  melts,  they 
slioot  up  instantly  with  vigoiW  proportioned  to  the 
length  of  time  they  have  been  dormant,  rapidly  un- 
fold their  flowers,  and  mature  their  fruits,  and  run 


% 


Chap.  V.] 


VIEW  FROM  SUMMIT. 


79 


through  the  whole  course  of  their  vegetation  in  a  few 
weeks,  irrigated  by  clouds  and  mist. 

Among  other  Alpine  plants,  we  gathered  on  the 
summit  Menziesia  cerulea;  and  Rhododendron  laponi- 
cum,  both  out  of  flower ;  and,  not  far  below.  Azalea 
proeumbens.     Mr.  Oakes  pointed  out  to  me,  in  a  rent 
several  hundred  feet  above  theJh»rer  margin  of  the 
bald  region,  a  spruce  fir  growj/fg  in  the  cleft  of  a 
rock,  where  it  \yas  sheltered  from  the  winds,  clearly 
showing  that  the  sudden  cessation  of  the  trees  does 
not  arise  from  mere  intensity  of  cold.     We  found 
no  snow  on  the  summit,  but  the  air  was  piercing, 
dind  for  a  time  we  were  enveloped  in  a  cloud  of  dense 
white  fog,  which,  sailing  past  us,  suddenly  disclosed 
a  most  brilliant  picture.     On  the  slope  of  the  moun- 
tain below  us,   were  seen  woods  warmly  coloured 
with  their  autumnal  tints,  and  lighted  up  by  a  bright 
sun  ;   and   in   the  distance  a  vast  plain,  stretching 
eastward  to  Portland,  with  mapy  silver  lakes,  and 
beyond  these  the  oqean  and  blue  sky.     It  was  like 
a  vision  seen  in  the  clouds,  and  we  were  occasionally 
reminded  of  **  the  dissolving  views,"  when  the  land- 
scape slowly  faded  away,  and  then,  in  a  few  minutes, 
as  the   fog  dispersed,  regained  its  strength  as  gra- 
dually, till  every  feature  became  again  clear  and  well 
defined.  , 

We  at  length' returned  to  the  hotel  In  the  dusk 
of  the  evening,  much  delighted  with  our  excursion, 
although  too  fatiguing  for  a  lady,  my  wife  having 
been  twelve  hours  on  horseback.  If  an  inn  should 
be  built  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  the  exploit  will 


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80  MIGRATION  OP  PLANTS.  [Chap.  V. 

be  comparatively  an  easy  one,  and  in  a  few  years  a 

railway  from  Boston,  only  150  miles  distent  (100 

miles  of  ,t  being  already  completed),  will  enable  any 

citizen  to  escape  from  the  summer  heat,  and,  having 

slept  the  first  night  at  this  inn,  enjoy,  the  next  mom! 

ing,  If  he  IS  a  lover  of  beteny,  the  sight  of  a  variety 

of  me  and  beautiful  Arctic  plants  in  full  flower, 

besides  beholding  a  succession,  of  distinct  zones  of 

vegetation,  scarcely  surpassed  on  the  flanks  of  Mount 

Etda  or  the  Pyrenees. 

If  we  attempt   to   speculate    on   the   manner  in 
which  the  peculiar  species  of  plantsnow  established 
on  the   highest  summits  of  the  White  Mountains, 
wereenabled  to  reach  those  isolated  spots,  while  none 
of  them  are  met  with  in  the  lower  la^s  around,  or 
tor  a  great  distance  to  the  north,  we  shall  find  our- 
selves  engaged  in  trying  to  solve  a  philosophical  prob- 
lem, which  requires  the  aid,  not  of  botany  alone,  but 
of  geology,  or  a  knowledge  of  the  geographical  changes 
which  immediately  preceded  the  present  state  of  The 
earths  surface.     We  have  to  explain  how  an  Arctic 
flora,  consisting  of  plants  fli>ecifi,cally  identical  with 
those  which  now  inhabit  lands  bordering  the  sea  in 
the  extreme  north  of  America,  Europe,  and  Asia, 
could  get  to  the  top  of  Mount  WashiAgton.     Now 
geology  teaches  us  that  the  *,M3Cies  living  at  present 
on  the  earth  are  older  than  many  parts  of  our  exist- 
ing continents ;   that  is  to  say.  they  were  created 
.before  a  la,^  part  of  the  existing  mountains,  val- 
ieys,   plains,    lakes,  rivers,  and   seas   were   formd^ 
Ihat  such  ihmt  be  the  case  in  regard  to  the  island 
ot  biciJy,  I  announced  ray  conviction  in   1833,  nftcr 


■^«^ 


tj        ^  ^  ^ 


•jSl 


Chap.  V.] 


MIGRATION   OP  PLANTB. 


81 


first  returning  from  that  country.*     And  a  similar 
conclusion  is  no  less  obvious  to  aiiy  naturalist  who 
■  has  studied  the  strupture   of  North  America,  and 
observed  the  wide  area  occupied  by  the  modem  or 
glacial  deposits,  before  alluded  tof,  in  which  marine 
fossil  shells  of  living  but  northelm  species  are  en- 
tombed.    It  is  clear  that  a  great  portion  of  Canada, 
and  the  country  surrounding  'the  great  lakes,  was 
siibmerged  beneath  the  ocean  when  recent  species 
of  mollusca  flourished,  of  which  the  fossil  remains 
occur  more  than  500  feet  above  the  level  of  .the  sea 
near  Montreal..    I  have  already  stated  that  Lake 
Champlairi  was  a  gulf  of  the  sea  at  that  period,  that 
large  areas  in  Maine  were  under  water,  and,  I  may 
add,  that  the  White  Mountains  must  then  have  con- 
stituted an  island,  or  group  of  islands.     Yet,  as  this 
period  is   so   modern   in  the  earth's  history  as   to 
belong  to  the  epoch,  of  the  existing  marine  fauna, 
it  is  fair  to  infer  that  the  Arctic  flora  now  pon- 
temporary  with  man  was  then  also  established  on 
the  globe.  N| 

A  careful  study  of  the  present  distribii^An  of 
animals  and  plants  over  the  globe,  has  led  "taeariy  all 
the  best  naturalists  to  the  opinion  that  each  species 
had  its  origin  in  a  single  birth-place,  and  sprea*!  • 
gradually  from  its  original  centre,  to  all  accessible 
spots  fit  for  its  habitation,  by  means  of  the  powers  of 
migration  given  to  it  from  the  first.  If  wo  adopt 
this  view,  or  the  doctrine  of  "  specific  centres,"  there 


ri: 


4,  1 


*  Prinolftlea  of  Geology,  I  at  edition,  vol.  iii.  chap.  5». 
t  Ante,  p.  St). 


) 


A 


82  -MIQBATION  OF   PLANTS.  [Chap.  V. 

is  no  difficulty  in  comprehending  how  the  crypto- 
famous  plants  of  Siberia,  I^pland,  Greenland,  and 
Labrador  scaled  the  heights  of  Mount  Washington, 
because  the  spomiles  of  the  fungi,  Uchens,  and  mbsses 
may  be  wafted  through  the  air  for  indefinite  dis- 
tances, like  smoke;  and,  in  fact,  heavier  particles 
are  actually  known  to  have  .been  carried  for  thou- 
sands of  miles  by  the  wind.     But  the  cause  of  the 
occurrence  of  Arctic  plants  of  the  phoBnogamous  class 
on  the  top  of  the  New  Hampshire  mountains,  spe- 
cifically identical  with  those  of  remote  Polar  regions, 
is  by  no  means  so  obvious.     Th6y  could  not,  in  thq 
present  condition  of  the  earth,  effect  a  passage  over 
the  intervening  low  lands,  because  the  extreme  heat 
of  summer  and  cold  of  winter  would  be  fatal  to 
them.    Even  if  they  were  brought  from  the  northern 
parts   of  Asia,   Europe,   and   America,   and    thou- 
sands of  them  planted   round  the  foot   of  Mount 
Washington,"  they   would    never   bd^e,   in   any 
number  of  years,  to  make  their  wfty^Sps  summit. 
We  must  suppose,  therefore,  thati  'ongioally  they 
extended  their  range  in  the  same  Vy  as  the  flower-' 
ing  plants  now  inhabiting  Arctic  and  Antarctic  lands 
disseminate  themselves.     Tfie  innumerable  islands  in 
the  Polar  seas  are  tenatited  by  the  same  species  of 
plants,  some  of  which  are  conveyed  as  seeds  by  ani- 
mals over  the  ice  when  the  sea  is  frozen  in  winter,  or 
by  birds ;  while  a  atiU  larger  number  are  transported 
by  floating  icebergs,  on  which  soil  containing  the  seeds 
of  plants  maybe  carried  in  a  single  year  for  hun- 
dreds of  miles.     A  great  body  of  geological  evidence 
has  now  been  brought  together,  to  some  of  which 


Tt^ 


\ 


,1  i:AS3jtm 


»T^5eif»'  .w 


'M)fvTreK«*""ra;T?3  " 


'i>'^ii-',;afi>.*'s5f  -^,-1  '^BH&«i|K''iB^'s«?P'?'*»^)^™''2'T!*Tt«S«i""^^-'»''^p.vr;fe?'^^ 


Chap.  V.] 


CHANGE-  OP   CLIMATE. 


83 


e 


I  have  adverted  in  a  former  chapter*,  to  show  that 
this  machinery  for  scattering  plants,  as  well  as  for 
carrying  erratic  blocks  southwards,  and  polishing  and 
grooving  the  floor  of  the  ancient  ocean,  extended  in 
the  western  hemisphere  to  lower  latitudes  than  the 
White  Mouhtains.  When  these  last  still  constituted 
islands,  in  a  sea  chilled  by  the  melting  of  floating  ice, 
we  may  assume  that  they  were  covered  entirely  by  a 
flora  like  that  now  confined  to  the  uppermost  or 
treeless  region  of  the  mountains.  As  the  continent 
grew  by  the  slow  upheaval  of  the  land,  and  the 
islands  gained  in  height,  and  the  climate  around 
their  base  grew  milder,  the  Arctic  plants  would  re- 
treat to  higher  and  higher  zones,  and  finally  occupy 
an  elevated  area,  which  probably  had  been  at  first,  or 
in  the  glacial  period,  always  covered  with,  perpetual 
snow.  Meanjrhile  the  newly-formed  plains  around 
the  base  of  the  mountain,  to  whiwi  northern  species 
of  plants  could  not  spread,  would  be  occupied  by 
others  migrating  from  the  south,  and  perhaps  by 
#nany  trees,  shrubs,  iind  plants  then  first  created,  and 
remaining  to  this  day  peculiar  to  North  America. f 

The  period  when  the  White  Mountains  ceased  to 
be  a  group  of  islands,  or  when,  by  the  emergence  of 
the  surrounding  low  lands,  thoy  first  b6camo  connected 
with  the.  continent,  is,  as  wo  have  seen,  of  very  mo- 

*  Ante,  p.  7.  .  . 

t  For  flpoculations  on  analogous  bcaanical  and  geographical 
changes  iri  Europe,  the  reader  may  refer  with  advantage  to 
ftn  excellent  essay  by  Professor  Edward  Forbes,  on  the  Origin 
of  the  British  Fauna  and  Flora,  Memoirs  of  Geol.  Survey  of 
Great  BriUin,  vol.  i.  p.  336.  1846.  , 
—              I  6            . 


^    '■M 


#' 


\ 


\. 


84r 


GRANITIC   ROCKS. 


[Chap.  V, 


dern  date,  geologically  speafcmg.     It  is,  in  fact,  so 
recent  as  to  belofig  to  the  epoch  when  species  now 
contemporaneous  with  man   already  inhabited  this 
planet.     But  if  we  attempt  to  carry  our  retrospect 
still  farther  into  tfe^  past,  and  to  go  back  to  the  date 
when  the  rocks  themselves  of  the  White  Mountains 
originated,  we  are  lost  in  times  of  extreme  antiquity. 
No  light  is  thrown  on  this  inquiry  by  embedded 
organic  remains,  of  which  the  strata  of  gneiss,  mica 
schist,  clay-slate,  and  quartzite  are  wholly  devoid. 
,   These  masses  are  traversed  by  numerous  vei^s  of 
granite  and  greenstone,  which  are  therefore  newer 
than  the  stratified  crystalline  rocks  which  "they  inter- 
sect ;  and_  the  abrupt  manner  in  which  these  veins 
terminate  at  the  surface  attests  how  much  denudation 
or  removal  by  water  of  solid  matter  has^taken  place. 
Another  question  of  a  chronological  loud  may  yet 
deserve  attention,  namely,  the  epoch  ^  the  move- 
ments which  threw  the  beds  of  gneiss  abd  the  asso- 
ciated rocks  into  their  present  bent,  disturbed,  and 
vertical  positions.     This  subject  is  also  involved  in 
considerable  obscurity,  although  it  seems  highly  pro*^ 
bablo  that  the  crystalline  ptrata  of  New  Hampshire 
acquired  their  internal  arrangement  at  the  same  time 
as  the  fossiliferous  beds  of  the  Appalachian  or  Alle- 
ghany chain ;  and  we  know  that  they  assumed  their 
actual  strike  and  dip  subsequently  to  the  origin  of 
the  coal  measures,  which  enter  so  largely  into  the 
structure  of  that  chain. 

From  Fabyan  8  Inn,  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Wash- 
ington, we  travelled  about  twenty-five  miles  westward 
to  Bethlehem,  and  thence  southwards  to  the  Fran- 


« 


•  / 


*v>  f .''"?*TfS»!S^''?g«""o^y»'<(w-i^'' 


>f 


rjs.-l.T-Aj^,^;^.^  ■»(), 


Cha?.  v.]        ,  BEVrVAL  AT  BETHLEHEM. 


85 


conia  Notch,  a  deep  and  picturesque  ravine  in  the 
mountains  of  granite.  On  the  way  I  conversed  with 
the  driver  of  our  carriage  about  the  village  churches, 
and,  being  very  communicative,  he  told  me  he  was  a 
free-will  Baptist,  but  had  only  become  a  Christian 
five  years  ago,  when  he  was  awakeded  from  a  state 
of  indifference  by  a  revival  which  took  place  near 
Bethlehem.  This  meeting,  he  said,  was  got  up  and 
managed  by  the  Methodists  ;  but  some  Baptists,  and 
one^^O|:t}fodox  (Independent  or  Congregationalist) 
minister  had  assisted,  in  all  sixteen  ministers,  and  for 
twenty-onfi  days  in  succession  there  had  t)een  prayers 
and  preaching  incessantly  from  morning  to  night.  I 
had  already  seen  in  a  New  York  paper  the  following 
advertisement :    "  A  prt)t?^cted   meeting  is  now  in 

progress  at  the  — -  churcli  in Street.     There 

have  been  a  number  of  conversions,  and  it  is  hoped  the 
work  of  grace  has  but  just  commenced.  Preaching 
every  evening :  seats  free."  -I  was  surprised  to  hear 
of  the  union  of  ministers  of  more  than  one  denomi- 
nation on  this  occasion,  and,  on  inquiry,  was  told  by 
a  Methodist,  that  no  Episcopalians  would  join,  "be- 
cause they  do  not  sufficiently  rely,  on  regeneration 
and  the  new  man."  It  appears,  indeed',  to  be  essen- 
tial to  the  efficacy  of  this  species  of  excUo^isient,  that 
there  should  be  a  previous  belief  thitt  ea(!!i  tnay  hope 
at  a  particular  moment  "  tq  receive  comfort,"  as  thej 
term  it,  or  that  thei&  conversion  miiiy  be  as  sudden  as 
was  that  of  St.  Pant  A  Boston  friend  assured  me 
that  when  he  once  attended  a  revival  sermon,  he  heard 
the  preacher  describe  the  symptoms  which  they  might 
expeof  to  exjperiencejon  the  fira^  secong.jnd  third 


*>      , 


i 


V   « 


f 


% 


\  » 


86 


,1 


REVIVAL   AT   BETI^LEHEM.  [Chap.  V. 


day  previous  to  thejr  conversion,  just  as  a  medical 
lecturer  might  expatiate  to  his  pupils  on  the  progress 
of  a  well-known  ^sease ;  and  "  the  complaint,"  he 
added,  "is  indeed  a^^ous  one,  and  very  contasious, 
wHen  the  feelings  have  obtained  an  entire  control 
over  the  judgment,  and  the  new  ton  vert  is  in  the 
power  of  the  preacher.  He  himself  is  often  worked 
up  to  such  a  pitch  of  enthusiasm,  as  to  have  lost  all 
command  over  his  own  heated  imagination." 

It  is  the  great  object  of -the  ministers  who  officiate 
on  these  occasions  t^eep  up  a  perpetual  excitement ; 
but  while  they  are  eKeavouring  by  personal  appieals 
to  overcome  the  apatRyof  dull,  slow,  and  insensible 
minds,  they  run  the  risk  of  driving  others,  of  weaker 
nerves  and  a  more  sensitive  temperament,  who  are 
sitting  on  "  the  anxious  benches,"  to  the  very  verge 
of  distraction. 

My  friend,  the  driver,  was  evidently  one  of  a  slow 
and  uuexcitable  disposition,  and  had  been  led  for  the 
first  time  in  his  life  to  think  seriously  on  religious 
matters  by  what  he  heard  at  the  great  preaching  near 
Bethlehem ;  but  it  is  admitted,  and  deplored  by  the 
advocates  of  revivals,  that  after  the  application  of 
such  violent  stimulants  there  is  invariably  a  reaction, 
and  what  they  call  a  flat  or  dead  season.  The  emo- 
tions  are  so  strong  as  to  exhaust  both  the  body  and 
mind ;  and  it  is  creditable  to  the  New  England  clergy 
of  all  sects,  that  they  have  in  general,  of  late  years, 
almost  entirely  discontinued  such  meetings. 

At  the  Franconia  hotel  I  first  heard  of  the  recent 
^fanatical  movement  of  the  Millcrites,  or  followers  of 
one  Miller,  who  taught  that  the  millennium,  or  final 


-1  ^  r^'^-uw^^nff:^^!^  J^ 


i|^|^.   w.->^, 


"    '  ■^^'^P^''      •y^"^f^" 


•*"i|,'-ai -^     ,  ^Tip'^^X^m  «ci   ,  ,^|gFW«*Mw^55^' 


Chap.  V.] 


MILLEEITE  MOVEMENT.' 


^87 


destruction  of  the  world,  would  come  to  pass  last  year, 
or  on  the  23d  day  of  October,  1844.  A  farmer  from 
the  village  of  Lisbon  told  me  that,  in  the  course  of 
the  preceding  autumn,  many  of  his  neighbours  would 
neither  reap  their  harvest  of  Indian  corn  and  potatoes, 
nor  let  others  take  in  the  crop,  saying  it  was  tempt- 
ing Providence  to  store  up  grain  for  a  season  that 
could  never  arrive,  the  great  catastrophe  being  so  near 
at  hand.  These  infatuated  people,  however,  exerted 
themselves  very  diligently  to  save  what  remained  of 
their  property  when  the  non-fulfilment  of  the  pro- 
phecy dispelled  their  delusion.     In  several  townships 

■  in  this  and  the  adjoining  States,  the  parochial  oflScers, 
or  "  select  men,"  interfered,  harvesting  the  crops  at 

*  the  -public  expense,  and  requiring  the  owners,  after 
the  23d  October,  to  repay  them  for  the  outlay. 

I  afterwards  heard  many  anecdotes  respecting  the 
Millerite  movement,  not  a  few  of  my  informants 
speaking  with  marked  indulgence  of  what  they  re- 
garded simply  as  a  miscalculation  of  a  prophec^hich 
must  be  accomplished  at  no  distant  date.  ^Rlthe 
township  of  Concord,  New  Hampshire,  I  was  told  of 
an  old  woman,  who,  on  paying  her  annual  rent  for  a 
house,  said,  « I  guess  ^this  is  the  last  rent  you  will 
get  from  me."  Her  landlord  remarked,  "  If  so,  I 
hope  you  have  got  your  robes  ready ; "  alluding  to  the 
common  practice  of  the  faithful  to  prepare -white 
ascension  robes,  "  for  going  up  into  heaven.*  Hear-' 
ing  that  there  hiad  been  advertisements  from  shops  in 
Boston  and  elsewhere  to  furnish  any  number  of  these 
robes  on  the  shortest  notice,  I  took  for  granted  that 
they  were  meant  as  a  ho^x ;  but  an  English  book* 


^^Sg«gjP&-mlim\iiri..«;-F«iMl«il;;" 


88 


MILLERITE   MOVEMENT. 


[Cbap.  V. 


H 


^ 


V 


seller,  residing  at  New  Yorkj^assured  me  that  there 
was  a  brisk  demand  for  such  articles,  even  as  far 
south  as  Philadelphia,  and  that  he  knew  two  indi- 
viduals in  New  York,  who  sat  up  all  night  in  their 
shrouds  on  the  2  2d  of  October. 

A  caricature,   published   at   Boston,    represented 
Miller,  the  originator  of  the  movement,  ascending  to 
heaven  in  his  robes ;  but  his  chaplain,  who  was  sus- 
pected of  not  being  an  enthusiast,  but  having  an  eye 
to  the  dollars  freely^fiirown  into  "  the  Lord^s  Trea- 
sury," was  weighed  down  by  the  money  bags,  and 
the  devils  were  drawing  him  in  an  opposite  direction. 
To  keep  up  the  excitement,  several  newspapers  and  - 
periodicals  were  published  in  the  interest  of  this  sect, 
and  r  was  told  of  several  Methodist  preachers  who 
gave  themselves  up  in  full  sincerity  to  the  delusion. 
I  asked  an  artizan  who  sat  next  me  in  a  railway  car 
in  Massachusetts,   whether  he  had  heard  any  talk 
of  the  millfennium  in  his  district.     "  Certainly,"  he 
said ;   "  I  remember  a  tonguey  jade  coming  down  to 
our  town,  and  many  women,  and  even  some  smart, 
likely  men,  were   carried   away  by  her  preaching. 
And,    when   the    day  was    past.    Miller    explained 
how  they  had  made  a  miscalculation,  and  that  the 
end  of  the  world  would  come  three  days  later ;  and 
after  that  it  was  declared  it  would  happen  in  the 
year  1847,  which  date  was  the  more  certain,  because 
all  the  previous  computations  had  failed,  and  that  era 
alone  remained  to  satisfy  the  prophecy." 

In  a  subsequent  part  of  our  tour,  several  houses 
were  pointed  out  to  us,  between  Plymouth  (Massa- 
chusetts) and  Boston,  the  owners  of  which  had  been 


:d.M 


'^' 


«m' 


■   -.  f 


Chap.  V.]      THE   TABERNACLE   AT   BOSTON. 


89 


reduced  from  ease  to  poverty  by  their -credulity, 
having  sold  their  all  towards  building  the  Taber- 
nacle, in  which  they  were  to  pray  incessantly  for 
six  weeks  previous  to  their  ascension.,  Ara6ng  other 
stories  which,  Whether  true  or  not,  proved  to  me  how 

^  much  fraud  was  imputed  to  some  of  the  leaders,  I 
was  told  of  a  young  gjrl  who,  having  no  money,  was 
advised  to  sell  her  necklace,  which  had  been  pre- 
sented to  her  by  her  betrothed.  The  jeweller,'  seeing 
that  she  was  much  aifected  at  parting  with  her  trea- 
sure, and  discovering  the  object  of  the  sale,  showed 
her  some  silver  forks  and  spools,  on  which  he  was 
ajbout  to  engrave  the  initials  of  the  very  minister 
whose  dupe' she  was,  and  those  of  the  lady  he  was 
about  to  marry  on  a  fixed  day  after  the  fated  23d  of 
October. 

The  Tabernacle,  above  alluded  to,  was  planned 
for  the  Accommodation  of  between  2000  and  3000-. 
persons,  who  were  to  meet,  pray,  and  "  go  up "  at 
Boston  ;  but,  as  it  was  intended  merely  for  a  tempo- 
rary purpose,  the  fabric  would  have  been  very  slight 
and  insecure,  had  not.  the  magistrates,  fearing  that  it 
might  fall  into  theH)85et  and  kill  some  of  the  passers- 
by,  interposed  in  gWd  time,'  and  required  the  archi- 
tect to  erect  a  substantial  edifice.     When  the  society 

.  of  the  Millerites  was  bankrupt,  this  Tabernacle  was 
sold  and  fitted  up  as  a  theatre ;  and  there,  in  the 
course  of  the  winter,  we  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kean  perform  Macbeth.  Although 
under  no  apprehensions  that  the  roof  would  fall  in, 
yet,  as  all  the  seats  were  stuffed  with  hay,  and  there 
was  only  one  door,  we  had  some  conversatiort  during 


■/I 


t 


,  V 


.^MaiLxJSi 


0r- 


&0 


-,/  '. 


f 


•. ' 


!  I 


-MORMONS. 


[t"HAP.  V, 


tte  performance  as  to  wbat  might  be  our  chance  qf 
escape  in  the  event  of  a'fire.    Onjy  a  few  months  later 
the  whole  edifice  was  actually  burift  to  the  ground,  but 
fortunately  no  lives  were  lost..   In  one  of  the  scenes 
of  Macbeth,  where  Hecate 'is  represented  as  going  up 
to  heaven,  and  singing,  «  Now  I'm  furnished  for  the^^ 
flight^Now  I  fly,"  &c.,  spme  of  our  party  told  us 
they  were  reminded  of,  the  extraordinary  sight  they, 
had  witnessed  in  that  room  on  the  23d  of  October  of 
the  previous  year,  when  the  walls  were  <ftll  covered 
with  Hebrew  and  Greek  texts,  and  when  a  crowd  of 
devotees  wer^  praying  in  their  ascension  r^bes,  in 
hourly  expectation  of  the  consummation  of  all  things. 
•    I  observed  to  one  of  my  New  JEngland  friends, 
that  the  number  of  Millerite  proselytes,  apd  also  the 
fact   that   the  prophet  of  the   nineteenth  century, 
Joseph  Smith,  could  reckon  at  the  lowest  estimate 
60,000  followers  in  the  United  States,  and,  according 
to  some  accounts,  120,000,  ^id  not  argue  much  in   ' 
favour  of  the  working  of  their  plan  of^Sional  educa- 
tion.    *'  As  for  the  Mormons,"   h^   replied^   'i  ^ou  " 
must  bear  in  mind  that  they  wer/6  largelWlbruited 
fronj    the   manufacturing  distfictsVof  England  and 
Wales,  and  from  European  emigrants  recently  ar- 
rived.    They  were  dirawn  chieflv  from  an  illiterate 
clqss   in  the  Western   States,  Aere   society   is   in  ' 
its  rudest  condition.     The  progress  of  the  Miller- 
ites,  however,  although  confined  to  a  fraction  of  the 
population,  reflects  undoubtedly  much  discredit  on    " 
the  'educational  and  religious  Training  in  New  Eng- 
land; but  ^ince  the  year  1000,  when  all  Christendom 
believed  thfit  the  world  was  to  come  to  an  end,  there 


4 


^\ 


mum 


mmmmm 


J 


Cha*p..V.'}        NEW.ENGJTAND   FANATICISM.  W    '  •      ^  ) 

.  ■  -  ,  .  .  .  .  ■        \<' 

have  never  bee^  wanting' interpreters  of  prophecy, 

who  have  confidently  assigned  some  exact  date,  and        ,      '  \ 

one  near  at  hand,  for  the.  millennium.     Ygjir  Faber  '      ■     ■."> 

(^  the  Prophecies,  and- the  writings  of  Croly,  and  -a       '^^3 

even  some" articles'  in  the  Quarterly  Review,  helped 

for  a  time  to  keep  up  this  spirit  here  and  make  it  - 

fashionable.     Bufjthe  Millerite  movement,  like  the  , 

.  ^cent/exhibition  of  thevHoly  Coat  at  Treves,  has 
done  much  to  open  meii's  minds  j  and  "the  exertions 
made  of  late  to  check  this  fanatical  movement,  have 
advanced  the  ji^se  of  truth."  He  then  went  on  to 
describe  to  me  a  sermonV  preached  in  one  of  the 
north-eastern  townships  of\M!assachu8etts,  which  he 
named;  against  the  Millerite\)pinion8,' by  the  minis-  * 
ter  of  the  parish,  who  explained  the  doubts  generally^^ 
entertained  by  the  learned  in  regard  to  somefof  the 
dates  of  the  prophecies  oi  Daniel,  entered  freely  into 
modern  controversi:es  about  the  verbal  inspiration 
of  the  Old   and  New -Testament,  and   referred  to 

^several  new  works,  both, of  German,  British,  and 
^ew  England  authors,  which  his  congregation  had 
never  heard  of.  till  then.  Not  a  few  of  them  com- 
plained that  they  had  been  so  long  kept  in  the'(dark, 
that  their  minister  must  have  entertained  many  of 
these  opinions  long  before,  and  that  he  had  now 
revealed  them  in  order   to'  stejn  the  current"  of  a  i. 

popular  delusion;  and  for  expediency,  rather  than         .  '  y 

from  the  love  of  truth.     "  Never,"  said  they,  "  can 
.we  in  future  put  the  same' confidence  in  him  again." 
.    Other  apologists  observed  to  me,  that  so  long. as  a     " 
part  of  the  population  was  very  ignorant,  even  the         '      \ 
well-^ucated  wotild  occasionally  participate  in  fana-  .  ^ 


> 


fj 


'CSI*  I 


'\ 


Wf  [ 


'i^^ 


6*  NEW  ENGLAND   FANATICISM.        [CpAP.  V. 

tic^  movements;   "for  religious  enthusiasm,  being 
very  contjigious,  resembles  a  famine  fever,  which  first 
attacks  tliose  who  are  starving,  but  afterwards  infects 
some  of  the  healthiest  and  best-fed  individuals  in  the' 
whole  community."   'This  explanation,  plausible  and 
ingenious  as  it  may  appear,  is,  I  believe,  a  fallacy.    If 
they  who  have  gone  through  school  and  college,  and 
have  been,  for  years  in  the   habit  of  listening  to 
preachers,n)ecome  the  victims  of  popular  fanaticism, 
It  proves  that,  however  accomplished  and  learned  they 
may  be,  their  reasoning  powers  have  not  been  culti- 
vated, their  understandings  have  not  been  enlarged, 
they  haye  not  been  trained  in  habits  of  judging  and 
thmkmg  f6i  themselves;  in  fact,  they  are  ill  educated. 
Instead  of  being  told  that  it  is  their  duty  carefully  to 
mvestigat^  historical  evidence  for  themselves,  and  to 
ohensh  an  independent  frame  of  mind,  they  have 
probably  been  brbughtup  to   think  that  a  docile, 
8ubn.,s8ive,  and  child-like  deference  to  the  authority 
.of  churchmen  is  the  highest  merit  of  a  Christian. 
Ihey  have  perhaps  heard  much  about  the  pride  of 
philosophy,  and  how  all  human  learning  is  a  snare 
In  matters  connected  with  religion  they  have  been 
accustomed  blindly  to  resign  themselves  to  the  guid- 
ance of  others,  and  hence  are  prepared  to  yield  them- 
aelves  up  to  the  influence  of  any  new  pretender  to 
Bupenor  sanctity  who  is  a  greater  enthusiast  than 
themselves. 


-^-.  .1. 


■u 


Ghap.  VI.] 


SOCIAL  EQUALITY. 


93 


CHAP.    VI. 


H«y 


SocMd  Equality. — Position  of  Servants. —  War  with  England. 
—  Coalition  of  Northern  Democrats^  and  Southern  Slave- 
owners.—  Ostracism  of  Wealth.  —  Legislators  Paid. — Envy 
in  a  Democracy.  —  Politics  of  the  Country  and  the  City. — 
Pledges  at  Elections. —  Universal  Suffrage. — Adventure  in  a 
Stage  Coach.^— Return  from  the  White  Mountains. -^  Ply- 
vMUth  m  NeU)  Hampshire(^pongregational  and  Methodist 
Churches.  —  Theological  Discussions  of  Fellow  Travellers.  — 
Temperance  Movement.-^ Post- Office  Abuses.  —  Lowell  Fac- 
tories. 

Oct  10.  1845. — During  our  stay  in  the  White 
Mountains,  we  were  dining  one  day  at  the  ordinary  of 
the  Franconia  Hotel,  when  a  lawyer  from  Massachu- 
setts pointed  out  to  me  "  a  lady"  sitting  o'J)posite  t^ 
us,  whom  he  recognised  as  the  chamberitiaid  of  an  inn" 
in  the  State  of  Maine,  and  he  supposed  "that  her  com- 
panion with  whom  she  was  talking  might  belong  to  the 
same  station."  I  asked  if  he  thought  the  waiters,  who 
were  as  respectful  to  these  guests  as  to.  us,  were  aware 
of  their  true  position  in  society.  "  Probably  they  are 
so,"  he  replied ;  "  and,  moreover,  as  the  reason  is  now 
almost  over  in  these  mountains,  I  presume  that  those 
gontiofflei^'^ho  must  have  saved  uioney  here,  will 
Very  soon  indulge  in  some  similar  recreation,  and  make 
some  excursion  tniatmselvoB."  He  then  entered  into 
conversation  with  thp  two  ladies  on  a  variety  of 
topics,  for  the  sake  oKdrawing  them  out,  treating 
thom  quite  as  equals;  Vnd  certainly  succeeded  in 
proving^  mo  that  the}\ had  beeg^  well  taught  at 


0 


!.V 


m 


I? 


^^^j-^^^'^'f^^'^i^^^^^^^^^^^Smmms'riTf^ 


*ifS^%i*^'n^=^ 


^ 


■:V 


[It 


94 


POSITION  OF  SERVANTS.  [Chap.  VI. 


lU 


school,  had  read  good  books,  and  could  enjoy  a  tour 
and  admire  scenery  as  well  as  ourselves.     "It  is  no 
small  gratification  to  them,"  said  he,  "to  sit  on  terms 
of  equdity  with  the  silver  fork  gentry,  dressed  in 
their  besaclothes,  as  if  they  were  in   an  orthodox 
meeting.ho)i8e."     I  complimented  him  on  carrying 
out  in  practice  the  American  theory  of  social  equtf%. 
As   he  had   strong   anti-slavery   feelings,  and   was 
somewhat  of  an  aboUtionist,  he  said,  "Yes,  but  you 
must^ot  forget  tliey  have  no  dash  of  negro  blood  in 
their,  veins."^    I  remarked,  that  I  had  always  inferred 
frojja  the  books  of  English  travellers'in  the  Uijited 
States,  that  domestic  service  was  held  as  somewhat  of 
a  degradation  in  New  England.     "I  remember  the 
tiwe,"  he  answered,  "  when  such  an  idea  was  never 
entertained  by  any  one  here ;    but  servants  formerly 
used  to  live  with  their  master  and  mistress,  and  have 
their  meals  at  the  same  table.     Of  late  years,  the 
custom  of  boarding  separately   has  gained   ground, 
and  work  in  factories  is  now  preferred.     These  are 
80  managed,  that  the  daughters  of  farmers,  and  some- 
times  of  our  ministers,  look  upon   them  as  most 
resi)ectable  places,  where  in  three  or  four  years  they 
may  earn  a  small  sum  towards  their  dowry,  or  which 
may  help  to  pay  off  a  mortgage  or  family  debt." 

As,  during  our  stay  here,  the  tone  of  the  news- 
papers from  Washington  was  somewhat  bellicose,  and 
we  were  [)roi)«8ihg  to  make  a  tour  of  eight  months 
in  the  Southern  States,  I  asked  my  legal  companion 
whether  he  was  really  apprehensive  of  a  war  about 
Oregon.  "  No,"  he  said,  "  there  may  bo  big  words 
and  much  blustering,  and  perhaps,  before  the  storm 


Chaf.  VI.] 


WAR    WITH    ENGLAND. 


95 


blows  over,  a  war  panic;  but  there  will  be  no  rupture 
Ivith  England,  because  it  is  against  the  interest  of 
the  slave-owners:  for  you  know,  I  presume,  that  we 
are  governed  by  the  south,  and  our  southern  chivalry 
will  put  their  veto  o^  a  war  of  which  they  would 
have  to  bear  the  brunt."  "If,"  said  I,  "you  are 
ruled  t)y  the  Slave-owning  States,  you  may  thank 
yourselves  for  it,  the  numerical,  physical,  intellectual, 
and  moral  power  being  on  the  side  of  the  Free 
States.  Why  do  you  knock  under  to  them?"  "You 
may  well  ask  that  question,"  he  replied;  "  and,  as  a 
foreigner,  may  not  easily  be  made  to  comprehend 
the  political  thraldom  in  which  we,  the  majority  of 
northerners,  are  still  held,  but  which  cannot,  I  think, 
last  piuch  longer.  Hitherto  the  southern  planters 
have  had  more  leisure  to  devote  to  politics  than  our 
small  farmers  or  merchants  in  the  north.  They  are 
banded  together  aS  one  man  in  defence  of  what  they 
call  their  property  and  institutions.  They  have  a 
high  bearing,  which,  ip  Congress,  often  imposes  on 
northern  men,  much  superior  to  them  in  real  talent, 
knowledge,  and  strength  of  character.  They  are 
often  eloquent,  and  have  much  political  tact,  and 
have  formed  a  league  with  the  unscrupulous  dema- 
gogues hero,  and,  by  uniting  with  them,  rule  the 
country.  For  example,  the  mass  of  our  po[)ulation 
were  strongly  opposed  to  the  extension  of  sl«>very, 
and  voted  at  first  against  the  annexation  of  Texas, 
yet  they  have  been  csyoled  into  the  adoption  of  that 
measure/' 

"  Do  the  slave-owners,"  I  asked,  "  give  bribes  to 
the  chiefs  of' your  democratic  party?"     "  No,  our 


W 

1 


I'' 


IKp 


ippM0>**' 


.V- 


i.'  /■ 


/  i 


^i^ 


1 


96 


OSTRACISM   OP   WEALTH.  [Chaf.  VI. 


electors  have  tbo  much  self-respect  and  independence 
to  accept  of  money  bribes  ;  but,  by  joining  with  their 
southern  allies,  they  get  what  one  of  their  party  hall 
recently  th©  effrontery  to  call  *  the  spoils  of  the 
victor.'  Tlaey  are  promoted  to  places  in  the  custom- 
house or  post-office,  or  sent  on  a  foreign  mission,  or 
made  disixict  attorneys,  gr  a  lawyer  may  now  and 
then  be  raised  even  to  the-  bench  of  the  Supreme 
Court;  not  one  who  is  positively  incompetent,  but 
a  man  who,  but  for  political  services,  would  never 
have  bi^en  selected  for  the  highest  honours  in  his 
profession." 

I  next  told  my  friend  that,  when  travelling  in 
Maine,  I  had  asked  a  gentleman  why  his  neighbour, 
Mr. /A.,  a  rich  and  well-informed  man,  was  not  a 
member  of  their  Legislature,  and  he  had  replied, 
"  Because  he  is  known  to  have  so  much  wealth,  both 
in /land  and  money,  that,  if  he  were  to  stand,  the 
people  would  not  elect  him."  "Is  it  then,"  I  in- 
quired, "  an  avowed  principle  of  the  democracy,  that 
the  rich  are  to  be  ostracised  ?"  and  I  went  on  to  say 
fihat  in  a  club  to  which  I  belonged  in  London,  we  had 
a  servant,  who,  though  very  poor,  had  a  vote  as  pro- 
prietor of  a  house,  all  the  apartments  of  which  he  let 
out  to  different  lodgers.  When  he  was  questioned 
why  at  two  suQcessive  elections,  ho  hdd  voted  for 
candidates  of  exactly  opposite  opinions  in  politics,  he 
explained  by  saying,  "  I  make  it  a  rule  always  to 
vote  with  my  first  floor."  "  I  presume  that  if  he 
migrated  to  Now  Hampshire  or  Maine,  he  would 
vote  with  his  garret,  instead  of  his  first  floor  ?  " 

«« I  have  no  doubt,"  said  ray  companion,  "  Uiat  such 


#/ 


t,^^it^k^ 


''^p^^^^'^T-'w^j  'i'^Y^'- 


>   f 


Chap.  VI.]  OSTRACISM  OF   WEALTH. 


97 


an  elector  would  side  witTi  the. powers  that  be;  and 
as  the  democracy  has  the  upper  hand  here,  as  in 
Maine,  he  would  have  paid  as  servile  a  homage  to 
the  dominant  party  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  as 
he  did  to  the  aristocracy  of  wealth  in  your  country. 
Do  you  desire  to  see  our  people  regard  wealth  sm  a 
leading  qualification  for  "their  representatives  ?  " 

"  Surely,"  said  I,  «  it  is  an  'evil  that  men  of  good 
abilities,  of  leisure,  and  indei)endent  station,  who 
have  had  the  best  means  of  obtaining  a  superior 
education,  should  be  excluded  from  public  life  by 
that  envy  which  seems  to  have  so  rank  a  growth  in 
a  democracy,  owing  to  the  vain  effort  to  realise  a 
theory  of  equality.  It  must  be  a  defect  in  your  sys- 
tem if  there  is  no  useful  career  open  to  young  men 
of  fortune.  They  are  often  ruined,  I  hear,  for  want 
of  suitable  employments." 

"  There  arc,"  he  said,  «  comparatively  few  of  them 
in  the  United  States,  where  the  law  of  primogeniture 
no  longer  prevails ;  and  if  we  have  good-for-nothing 
individuals  among  them,  it  is  no  more  tl^n  may  bo 
said  of  your  own  aristocracy."  He  then  named  an 
example  or  two  of  New  Englanders,  who,  having 
inherited  considerable  property,,  had  yet  risen  to  poli- 
tical distinction,  and  several  more  (four  of  whom  I 
myself  knew),  who,  having  mad^Jnrge  fortunes  by 
their  talents,  had  been  members  either  of  the  State 
Legislature  of  Massachusetts  or  of  Congress,  He  did 
not,  however,  deny  that  it  is  often  good  policy,  in  an 
election,  for  a  rich  candidate  to  affect  to  be  poorer 
th«n  he  is.  «♦  Every  one  of  our  reprt^scntatives,"  he 
ad<lod,   "  whether  in   the  State   Legislotures  or  .ia 


tmmimmm^mmm 


98 


LEGISLATORS  PAID. 


.  [Chap.  VI. 


'   r 


Congress,  receives  a  certain  sum  daily  when  on  duty, 
besides  more  than  enough  travelling  money  for  carry- 
ing him  to  his  post  and  home  again.  In  choosing  a 
delegate,  therefore,  the  people  consider  themselves  as 
patrons  who  are  giving  away  a  place ;  and  if  an  opu- 
lent man  offers  himself,  they  are  disposed  to  say, 
'  You  have  enough  already,  let  us  help  some  one  as 
good  as  you,  who  needs  it.' " 

During  my  subsequent  stay  in  New  England,  I 
often  conversed  with  men  of  the  working  classes  on 
the  same  subject,  and  invariably  found  |;hat  they  had 
made  up  their  mind  that  it  was  not  desirable  to  choose 
representatives  from  the  wealthiest  class.  "  The 
rich,"  they  say,  "  have  less  sympathy  with  our  opi- 
nions and  feelings;  love  their  amusements,  and  go 
shooting,  fishing,  and  travelling;  keep  hospitable 
houses,  and  are  inaccessible  when  we  want  to  talk 
with  them,  at  all  hours,  and  tell  them  how  we  wish 
them  to  vote.^  ,  I  once  asked  a  party  of  New  England 
tradesmen  whether,  if  Mr.  B.,  already  an  eminent 
public  man,  came  into  a  large  fortune  through  his^wife, 
us  might  soon  be  expected,  he  would  stand  a  worse 
chance  than  before  of  being  sent  to  Congress.  The 
({ucstion  gave  rise  to  a  discussion  among  themselves, 
and  at  last  they  assured  me  that  they  did  not  think 
his  accession  to  a  fortune  would  do  him  any  harm. 
It  clearly  never  struck  them  as  possible  that  it  could 
do  him  any  good,  or  aid  his  chance  of  suocess. 

The  chief  motive,  I  apprehend,  of  preferring  a 
poorer  candidate,  is  the  desire  of  reducing  the  mem- 
bora  of  their  Legislature  to  mere  delegates.  A  rich 
uian  would  bo  apt  to  have  an  opinion  of  his  own,  to 


'  ,  ■'ix^^'''-    r-'    "^TWF^    v".*?- 


--■  -s^^pf^^^ 


Chap.  VI.]  ENVT  IN  A  DEMOCRACY. 


99 


/ 


be  unwilling  to  make  a  sacrifice  of  his  free  agency  ; 
he  would  not  always  identify  himself  with  the  ma-** 
jority  of  his  electors,  condescend  toi  become,  like  the 
wires  of  the  electric  telegraph,  a  mere  piece  of  ma- 
chinery for  conveying  to  the  Capitol  6f  his  State,  or 
to  Washington,  the  behests  of  the  multitude.  That 
there  is,  besides,  a  vulgar  jealousy  of  superior  wealth, 
especially  m  the  less  educated  districts  and  newer 
States,  I  satisfied  myself  in  the  course  of  my  tour ; 
but  in  regard  to  envy,  we  must  also  bfear  in  mind, 
on  the  other  hand,  that  they  who  elevate  to  dis^ 
tinctiOn  one  of  their  own  class  in  socifjty,  have  some- 
times to  achieve  a  greater  victory  over  that  passion  ' 
than  when  they  confer  the  same  favour  on  one  who 
occupies  akeady,  by  virtue  .of  great  riches,  a  higher 
position. 

.  In  reference  also  to  pledges  exacted  from  repre- 
sentatives at  an  eledfion,  I  am^bound  to  mention  some 
spirited  letters  which  I  saw  published  by  Whig  can- 
didates in  Massachusetts,  who  carried,  their  election 
in  spite  of  them.  From  one  of  these  I  quote  the 
following  words :  "  I  must  decline  giving  a  direct 
reply  to  your  specific  questions;  my  general  conduct 
and  character  as  a  public  man,  must  be  j^r  guaran- 
tee. My  votes  are  on  record,  my  speecles  are  hi 
print ;  if  they  do  not  inspire  confidence,  no  pledges 
or  declarations  of  purpose  ought  to  do  so." 

It  was  part  of  General  Jackson's  policy,  openly 
avQwed  by  him  in  several  of  his  presidential  addressee 
to  pereuade  the  small  farmers,  mechanics,  and  la- 
bourers that  they  constituted  the  people,  were  i\w 
bone  and  sinew  of  the  country,  the  real  posseftora  of 


T-y- 


i.^ii^J&^!^£^!.-V~ 


100 


m 


GENERAL  JACKSON 's  POLICY.      [Chap.  VI. 


the  national  wealth,  althou^  in  their  hands  it  is 
subdivided  into  small  shares;  and  he  told  thpm  it 
was  their  business  to  make  a  constant  eiFort  to  main- 
tain their  rights  against  the  rich  capitalist  and  monied 
corporations,  who,  by  facilities  of  combining  together, 
could  usually  make  tHeir  own  class  interests  prevail 
against  a  more  numerous  body,  and  one  possessed  in 
the  aggregate  of  greater  wealth. 

It  seems  that  they  were  not  slow  in  taking  this 
advicp,  for  many  merchants  complained  to  me  that 
the  small  farmers  had  too  great  an  ascendency.  No 
feature,  indeed,  appeared  to  me  more  contrasted  in 
the  political  aspect  of  America  and  Great  Britain 
than  this,  that  in  the  United  States  the  democracy 
derives  its  chief  support  from  the  landed  interest, 
while  the  towns  take  the  more  conservative  side,  and 
are  often  accused  by  the  landed^roprietors  of  being 
too  aristocratic.  Every  where  the  ambition  of  accu- 
mulating riches  without  limit  is  so  manifest,  as  to 
hicline  me  to  adopt  the  opinion  expressed  to  me  by 
several  rich  Boston  friends,  that  wealth  has  in  this 
country  quite  as  many  charms,  and  confers  as  much 
distinction  and  influence,  as  it  ouglit  to^do.  If  a 
rich  Englishman  came  to  settle  here,  he  would  be 
disappointed  on  finding  that  money  gave  him  no 
fiiciiities  in  taking  a  lead  in  politics  ;  but  the  affluent 
natives  do  not  pine  for  influence  which  they  never 
possessed  or  expected  to  derive  from  their  riches. 

The  great  evil  of  universal  suffrage  is  the  irresistible 
temptation  it  affords  to  a  needy  set  of  adventurers  to 
make  politics  a  trade,  and  to  devote  all  their  time  to 
Huitation,  electioneering,  and  flattering  the  passions  of 


ha 


■f^i^.  5^  ^'^■'*T'>'»^=&MK«tfiv  f^    m^vrii^' 


"^yr 


■-*. 


Chap.  VI.]*^      UNIVERSAL   SUPPEAGE. 


m 


the  multitude.  The  natural  aristocracy  of  a  republic 
consists  of  the  most  eminent  men  in  the  liberal  pro- 
fessions,—  lawyers,  divines,  and  physicians  of  note, 
merchants  in  extensive  business,  literary  and  scientific 
men  of  celebrity ;  and  men  of  all  these  classes  are 
apt  to  set  too  high  a  value  on  their  time,  to  be  willing 
to  engage  in  the  strife  of  elections  perpetua|[y  going 
on,  and  in  which  they  expose  themselves  to  much 
calumny  and  accusations,  which,  however  unfounded, 
are  professionally  injurious  to  them.  The  richer 
citizens,  who  might  be  more  independent  of  such 
attacks,  love  their  ease  or  their  books,  and  from  indo- 
lence often  abandon  the  field  to  the  more  ignorant;  but 
I  met  with  many  optimists  who  declared  that  whenever 
the  country  is  threatened  with  any  great  danger  or 
disgrace,  there  is  a  right-minded  majority  whose 
energies  can  be  roused  effectively  into  action.  Never- 
theless, the  sacrifices  required  on  such  occasions  to 
work  upon  the  popular  mind  are  so  great,  that  the 
field  is  in  danger  of  being  left  open,  on  all  ordinary 
occasions,  to  the  demagogue. 

When  I  urged  these  and  other  objections  against* 
the  working  of  their  republican  institutions,  I  was 
sometimes  told  that  every  political  system  has  its 
inherent  vices  and  defects,  that  the  evil  will  soon  be 
mitigated  by  the  removal  of  ignorj\,nce  and  the  im- 
proved education  of  the  many.  Sometimes,  instead  of 
an  argument,  they  would  ask  me  whether  any  ?ii^  the 
British  colonip  are  more  prosperous  in  commerce, 
manufactures,  or  agriculture,  or  are  doing  as  much  to 
promote  good  schools,  as  some  ^ven  of  their  most  de- 
mocratic States,  such  as  New  Hampshire  and  Maine  ? 

k'.9 — '- =^ 


=.i,... 


«^ 


^■5^1fe«*^«*;'^aiFK-*r^Tr^^^ 


ji. 


/f 


1 0^        ADVENTURE   IN   A   STAGE   COACH.      [Chap.  VL 

"  Let  our  institutions,"  they  said,  "  be  judged  of  by 
their  fruits."  To  such  an  appeal,  an  Englishman  as 
much  struck  as  I  had  been  with  the  recent  progress 
of  thin^  in  those  very  districts,  and  with  the  general 
happiness,  activity,  and  contentment  of  all  classes, 
could  ohly'respond  by  echoing  the  sentiment  of  the 
Chancellor  Oxenstiem,  "  Quam  parvft  sapientift  mun- 
du8  gubematur."  How  great  must  be  the  amount 
of  misgovernment  in  the  world  in  general,  if  a  demo- 
cracy like  this  can  deserve  to  rank  so  high  in  the 
comparative  scale ! 

Oct.  10. — In  the  stage  coach,  between  Francoma 
and  Plymouth,  in  New  Hampshire,  we  were  at  first 
the  only  inside  passengers ;  but  about  half  way  we 
met  oh  the  road  two  men  and  two  women,  respectably 
dressed,  who  might,  we  thought,  have  come  from 
some  of  the  sea-ports.  They  made  a  bargain  with  the 
driver  to  give  them  inside  seats  at  a  cheap  rate.  As 
we  were  annoyed  hf  the  freedom  of  their  manners 
and  conversation,  I  told  the  coachman,  when  we 
stopped  to  change  horses,  that  we  had  a  right  to 
protection  against  the  admission  of  company  at  half 
price,  and,  if  they  went  on  further,  I  must  go  on  the 
(lutside  with  my  wife.  He  immediately  apologised, 
and  went  up  to  the  two  young  men  and  gave  them 
their  choice  to  take  their  seats  behind  him  or  be 
left  on  the  road.  To  my  surprise,  they  quietly 
accepted  the  former  alternative.  The  ladies,  for  the 
first  half  nSl,  were  mute,  th6n  burst  out  intS  a«fit  of 
laughter,  amused-  at  the  ludicrous  position  of  their 
companions  on  the  outside,  who  were  sitting  in  a 
pelting   rain.     They  afterwards   behaved  with  |ft- 


\ 


Chap.  VI.]   RETURN  FROM   WHITE   MOUNTAINS.     103 

corum,  and  I  mention  the  incident  because  itrwas  the 
only  tinpka^t^ad venture^ of  the   kind- which  we 

'  experienced  in  ml  course  of  all  our  travels  in  the 
United  States.  In  genefal,  there  i^o  countryvwhere 
a  woman  cojild,  with  so  much  comfort  and  security, 
undertake  a  long  journey  alone.  \    > 

As  we  receded  from  the  mountains,  following  the 
banks  of  the  fiver  Pemigewasset,  the  narrow  valley  ; 
^  widened  gradually,  tiU,  jSrst,  a  small,  grassy,  alluvial 
flat,  and,  at  length,  some  cultivated  fields,  intei*- 
vened  between  the  stream  and  the  bounflary  rocks  of 
mica  schist-imd  granite.     Occasionally  the  low  riv^r- 

i^  plain  was  separated  from  the  granite  by  a  terrace  of 
^  sand  and  gravel.  Usually  many  boulders,  with  a 
few  largfe  detached  blocks,  some  of  them  nine  feet  in 
diameter,  were  strewed  over  the  granitic  rocks. 
These,  as  generally  throughout  New  England,  break 
out  here  and  there,  from  beneath  their  covering  of 
drifti  in  smooth  bosses,^  roiftided,  dome-shaped  forms, 

'  called  in  the  Alps  "  roches  moutonn^es."  The  con- 
trast is  very  picturesque  between  the  level  and  fertile 

;  plain  and  th^  region  of  lichen-coveSed  rock,  or  sterile, 
quartzose  sand,  partially  clothed  witti  the  native 
forest,  now  in  its  autumnal  beauty,  and  lighted  up  by 
a  bright  sun.  On  the  flat  ground  bordering  the  river, 
we  passed  many  waggo^is  laden  with  yellow  heads  of  \ 
Indian  corn,  over  which  were  piled  many  a  huge 
punipkin  of  a  splendid  reddish  orange  colour.  These 
vehicles  were  drawn  by  oxen,  with  long  horns,  spread- 

,    ing  out  horizontally. 

We  stopped  for  the  night  at  an  inland  village  on 
which  the   maritime  name   of  Plym<juth   has   been 


y 


JE=A 


■SSK 


■  ™^3^*'»tm^V?^ip«?j(»tf'^;»!f»^^ 


104 


PLYMOUTH,   NEW   HAMPSHIRE.      XChap.  VI. 


--bestowed.     Here  we  spent  a  Sunday.  'llre^#were 
two  meeting-houses  in  the  place,  one  Congregational 
and  the  other  Methodist,  which  shared  between  them, 
in  nearly  equal  proportions,  the  whole  population  of 
the  township.     We  went  with  our  landlord  first  to 
one,  and  then,  in  the  afternoon,  to  the  other.     Each 
service  lasted  about  seventy  minutes,  and  they  were  so 
arranged  that  the  first  began  at  half-^past  ten  arid  tlvft 
second  ended  at  two  o'clock,  for  the  conveniencl9 
the  country  people",  who  came  in  vehicles  of  all  kinds' 
many  of  them  from  great  distances.     The  reading, 
singing,  and  preaching  would  certainly  not  suffer  by 
comparison  with  the  average  service  in  rural  districts 
in  churches  of  the  Establishment  in  England.     The 
discourse  of  the  Methodist,  delivered  fluently  with- 
out notes,  and  with  much  earnestness,  kept  his  hearers 
awake ;   and   onM§^heri    my   own   thoughts   were 
M»ndering,  they: were  suddenly  recalled  to  the  pulpit 
by  the  startling  question,  —.  whether,  if  some. intimate 
friend,  whom  we  had  lost,  should  return  to  us  from 
the  world  of  spirits,  his  naessage  would  produce  more 
effect  on  our  minds  than  did  the  raising  of  Lazarus  on 
the  Jews  of  old?     He  boldly  affirmed  th^t  it  would 
not.     I 'began  to  think  4iow  small  would  ie  the  sen- 
sation created  by  a  miracle  P^rform^^m^e  present 
day  in  Syria  and  |ipy  Eastern  coi^BBjtoecially; 
in  Persia,  where  they  believe  in  the  ipHfipPKu'  own 
holy  men  occasionally  to  raise  persons  from  the  dead, 
in  comparison  to  its  effect  in  New  England;  and 
how  readily  the  Jews  of  old  believed  in  departures 
be  ordinary  course  of  nature,  by  the  interven- 
*"  evir  spirits  or  the  power  of  magic.     But  I 


* 


v 


Chap.  VI.]        TpEOLO«lcAL   DISCUSSION. 


/ 
105 


A 


.presume  the  preacher  merely  meant,  to  say,  and  no 
doubt  his  doctrine  was  true,  that  a  voice  or  sign 
from  heaven  would  no  mo|e  deter  men  from  sinning, 
than  do  the  olel^dictates  of  their  consciences,  in  spite 
of  which  thiey  yiel^  to  temptation.    ' 

In  the  evening  I  walked  on  a  roofed  wooden  bridge, 
resembling  many  in  Switzerland,  which  here  spans 
the  Pemigewasset,  and  the  keeper  of  it  told  me  how 
the  whole  river  is  frozen  over  in  winter,  but  the  ice 
being  broken  by  the  Falls  above  does  not  carry  away^ 
the  bridge.  /  He  alsd  related  how  his  grandfather, 
who  had  lived  to  be  ^^  old  man,  had  gone  up  {he  ■ 
river  with  an  exploring  party  among  the  Indians, 
and  how  there  wa^  a  bloody  battle  at  the  forks  above, 
where  the  Indians  were  defeated  after  great  8laugk«r 
on  both  sides.  ^ 

On  entering  the  stage  coach  the  next  morhirig,  on 
our  way  south,  we  had  two  inside  fellow-travSlers 
with  us.     One  of  them  was  a  blacksmith  of  Boston, 
and  the  other  a  glover  of  Plymouth,    After  convers- 
ing bji  the  price  of  agricultural  implements,,  they  fell 
into  a  keen  controver^^  on  several  biblical  questions. 
After  mentioning  instances   of  great  longevity  in 
New  Hampshire,   the   glover   raised   the   question,    . 
whether  the  antediluvian  patriarchs  really  lived  seven 
or  eight  centuries,  qr  whether,  as  he  supposed,  we 
were  to  take  these  passages  in  a  "  mythical  sense." 
"  For  his  part,  he  thought  we  might  perhaps  interpret 
them  to  mean  that  the  family  stock,  or  dynasty,  of  a 
particular  patriarch,  endured  for  those  long  periods. 
He  also  went  on  to  say,  that  the  Deluge  did  not  cover 
the  highest  mountains  literally,  but  only  figuratively. 


^^  ^^^^^-^^^^^^^^^^j^.^.^mm^^.^^^'^^T^^m^^ 


,v 


106 


•  THEOLOGICAL   DISCUSSION.         [Chap,  VI. 


Ill 


' ) 


Against  these  latitudinarian  notions  the  blacksmith 
strongly  protested,  declaring  his  faith  in  the  literal 
and  ex;act  interpretation  of  the  sacred  record;  but  at 
the  same  tinie  treating  his  antagonist  as  one  who  had 
ft  right  to  indulge  his  own  opinions.  As  soon  as 
there  was  a  pause  in  the  conrersation,  I  asked  them 
if*  they  approved  of  a  frequent  change  of  ministers, 
such  as  I  found  to  prevail  in  New  England^— the 
Methodists  remaining  only  two  years,  and  the  Congre- 
gationalists  only  four  or  six  at  the  utmost,  in  one  parish. 
They  seemed  much  surprised  tofjeara'from  mcj  that 
in  England  we  thought  a  permanent  relation  between 
the  pastor  and  his  flOck  to  be  natural  and  desirable. 
Our  people,  they  observed,  are  fond  of  variety,  and 
there  would  always  be  danger,  when  they  grew  tired 
of  a  preacher,  of  their  running  after  others  of  a 
different  sect.  "  Besides,"  said  the  blacksmith, 
"  how  are  they  to  keep  up  with  the  reading  of  the 
day,  and  improve  their  minds,  if  they  remain  for 
ever  in  one  towr^-?  They  have  first  Uieir  parish 
duties,  then  they\are  expected  to  write  two  new 
sermons  every  week,  usually  referring  to  some  matters 
of  interest  of  the  day ;  but  if  they  have  a  call  to  a 
new  parit^h,  they  not  only  gain  now  ideas,  but  much 
leisure,  for  they  may  then  preach  over  again  their 
old  Hetmons." 

He  then  told  me  that  he  had  not  visited  New 
Hampshire  for  ten  years,  and  was  much  struck  with 
the  reform  which,  in  that  interval,  the  temperance 
movement  had  worked  in  the  hotels  and  habits  of  the 
people.  Mr.  Mason,  an  eminent  lawyer  of  Boston, 
since  dead,  with*  whom  I  afterwards  spoke  on  the 


r 


\: 


W 


N 


^. 


'•f'TW^''f ' 


Chap.  VI.] 


POST-OFFICE   ABUSES. 


107 


same  subject,  informed  me  that  much  stronger  mea- 
sures had  been  taken  in  Massachusetts,  where  the 
Legislature  first  passed  a  law,  that  no  rum  or  ardent 
spirits  should  be  sold  without  a  license,  and  then  the 
magistrates  in  many  townships  resolved  that  within 
their  limits  no  licenses  should  be  granted.  "  A  most 
arbitrary  proceeding,"  he  said,  "  and  perhaps  uncon- 
stitutional ;  for  the  Federal  Government  levies  a  duty 
on  the  importation  of  spirits,  and'  this  is  a  blow  struck 
at  their  revenue.  But  you  can  have  no  idea,"  he 
added,  "how  excess  in  drinking  ruins  the  health  in 
this  climate.  I  have  just  been  reading  the  life  of 
Lord  Eldon,  and  find  that  he  was  able,  when  in  full 
work,  to  take  with  impunity  a  bottle  of  port  a  day, 
which  would  kill  any  sedentary  New  Englander  in 
vlhree  years." 

V  We  left*  tine  stage  when  we  reached  the  present 
Iterminus  of  the  Boston  railway  at  Concord,  and, 
anxious  for  letters  from  England,  went  immediately 
to  the  Post-Offioe,  where  they  told  us  that  the  post- 
bag  had  been  seilt  by  mistake  to  Concord  in  Massa- 
chusetts, the  letters  of  that  township  having  been 
forwarded  .to  this  place.  Such  bhinders  are  attribu- 
table to  two  causes,  for  both  of  which  the  practical 
good  sense  of  the  American  people  will,  it  is  hoped, 
soon  find  a  cure.  Synonymous  appellations  might  be 
modified  by  additions  of  north  and  south,  cast  and 
west,  &c. ;  and  the  General  Post-Ofllco  «nigh^ 
publish  a  Directory,  and  pt-ohibij  the  futufg  nuil^ 
tiplicati(m  of  the  same  names  in  a  country  where 
not  only  new  towns,  but  now  states,  are  every  day 
starting  into  existence.     The  other  evil  is  a  political 


^'  ■.. 


-m- 


108 


POST-OFFICE   ABUSES. 


[Chap.  VL 


one  ;  the  practice  first,  I  am  told,  carried  out  unscru- 
pulously during  the  presidentship  of  General  Jackson, 
of  regarding  all  placemen,  down  to  subordinate  offi- 
cials, such  as  the  village  post-master,  as  a  body  of 
electioneeiing  agents,  who  must  support  the  Federal 
Government.  They  who  happen,  therefore,  to  be  of 
opposite  opinions,  must  turn  out  as  often  as  there  is 
a  change  of  ministry.  On  more  than  one  occasion  I 
have  known  the  stage  make  a  circuit  of  several  miles 
in  Massachusetts,  to  'convey  the  mail  to  the  post- 
master's residence,  because,  forsooth,  in  the  eaij^ 
village,  all  the  houses  which  lay  in  the  direct  read}/ 
belonging  to  trust-worthy  men  were  those  of  W^igi 
In  short,  the  mail,  like  the  Cabinet  at  Washington, 
had  to  go  out  of  its  way  to  hunt  up  a  respectable 
democrat,  and  he,  when  found,  has.  to  learn  a  new 
craft.  By  leaving  such  places  to  the  patronage  of  each 
State,  thi^  class  of  abuses  would  be  much  lessened. 

Oct.  14.  —  Next  morning  we  received  all  our 
letters  from  England,  only  a  fortnight  old,  and  had 
time  to  travel  seventy-five  miles  by  railway  to  Boston 
before  dark.  When  I  took  out  the  tickets  they  told 
mc  we  had  no  time  to  lose,  saying,  "  Be  as  spry  as 
you  can,"  meaning  "quick,"  "active."  ^rora  the  cars 
we  saw  the  Merrimack  at  the  rapids,  foaming  over 
the  granite  rocks ;  and,  when  I  reflected  on  the  extent 
of  barren  country  all  round  us,  and  saw  many  spaces 
covered  with  loose  moving  snnds,  like  the  dunes  on 
the  coast,  I  could  not  help  admiring  the  enterprise 
and  industry  which  has  created  so  much  wealth  in 
this  wilderness.  Wo  wore  told  of  the  sudden  in- 
crease of  the  new  town  of  Manchester,  and  passed 


t  r.^' 


«"■  *■?; 


Chaf.  VI.] 


LOWELL   FACTORIES. 


109 


Lowell,  only  twenty-five  years  old,  with  its  popu- 
lation of  2'5,000  inhabitants,  and  its  twenty-four 
churches  and  religious  societies.  Som&  of  the  manu- 
facturing companies  here  have  given  notice  that  they 
will  employ  no  one  who  does  not  attend  divine  wor- 
ship, and  whose  character  is  not  strictly  moral.  Most 
of  the  9000  factory  girls  of  th^  place,  concerning 
whom  so  much  has  been  written,  ought  not  to  be  com-' 
pared  to  those  of  England,  as  they  only  remain  five  or 
six  years  in  this  occupation,  and  are  taken  in  general 
from  a  higher  class  in  society.  Bishop  Potter,  in  his 
work  entitled  "The  School,"  tells  us  (p.  119.)  "that 
in  the  Boott  Factory  there  were  about  950  young 
women  employed  for  five  and  a  half  years,  and  that 
only  one  case  was  known  of  an  illegitimate  birth,  and 
then  the  mother  was  an  Irish  emigrant." 

I  was  informed  by  a  fellow-traveller  tliat  the  joint- 
stock  companies  of  Lowell  have  a  cai)itiil  of  more 
than  two  millions  sterling  invested.  "  Sucli  corpora- 
tions," he  said,  "are  too  aristocratic  for  our  ideas, 
and  can  combine  to  keep  down  the  price  of  wages." 
But  one  of  the  managers.  In  reply,  assured  me  that 
the  competition  of  rival  factories  is^reat,  and  the 
work-people  pass  freely  from  one  company  to  another, 
being  only  required  to  -^ign  an  agrecHient  to  give 
a  fortnigiit's  notice  to  quit.  lie  also  maintained 
that,  on  the  contrary,  they  are  truly  democratic 
institutions,  the  shares  being  as  low  as  500  dollars, 
and  often  held  by  the  operatives,  as  some  of  thcn> 
were  by  his  own  domestic  servants.  Hy  this  system 
the  work-peo|^e  are  prevented  from  looking  on  the 
master  manufacturers  as  belonging  to  a  distinct  class. 


.  ;1 


II 


I 
I 


i 


% 


110 


LOWELL  FACTORIES. 


[Chap.  VI. 


haying  different  interests  from  their  own.  The 
holders  of  small  shades  have  all  the  a<Jvantage8  of 
partners,  but  are  not  answerable  for  the  debts  of  the 
establishment  beyond  their  deposits.  They  can 
examine  all  the  accounts  annually,  when  there  is  a 
public  statement  of  their  affairs. 

An  English  overseer  told  me  that  he  and  other 
foremen  were  rec^ving  here,  and  in  other  New 
England  mills,  two  dollars  and  two  and  a  half  dollars 
a  day  (8*.  6rf.  and  10*.  6d.). 


'\ 


\ 


:-^WKf^^-^ /-  ^rF«w**\*^!^  ^K'S  /jS^ty**    "a^^  "'''W^^^^^iF^T 


Chap.  VII.]  SUBURBS  OF   BOSTON.     - 


111 


CHAP.  VIL  . 

Plymouth,  Massachusetts.— Plymouth  Beach.— Marine  Shells. — 
Quicksand.  —  Names  of  Pilgrim  Fathers.— ^Forefathers'  DOy. 
' —  Pilgrim  Relics.  —  Their  Authenticity  considered.  —  Decoy 
Pond.— A  Barn  Travelling.— Excursion  to  Salem.— Museum. 
—  Warrants  for  Execution  of  Witches.  —  Causes  of  the  Per- 
secution. —  Conversation  with  Coloured  Abolitionists.  —  Com- 
parative Capacity  of  White  and  Negro  Races.  —  Half  Breeds 
and  Hybrid  Intellects. 

(ht^  15.  1845. —  After  spending  a  day  in  Boston, 
we  set  out  by  etqge  for  Plymouth,  Massachusetts, 
thirty-eight  miles  in  a  south-east  direction,  for  I 
wishfed  to  see  the  spot  where  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
landed,  and  where  the  first  colony  was  founded  in 
New  England.  In  the  suburbs'  of  Boston  we  went 
through  some  fine  streets  called  the  South  Cove,  the 
houses  built  on  piles,  where  I  had  seen  a  marsh  only 
three  years  ago.  It  was  a  bright  day,  and,  as  we 
skirted  the  noble  bay,  the  deep  blue  sea  was  seen 
enlivened  with  the  white  sails  of  vessels  laden  with 
granite  from  the  quarries  of  Quincoy,  a  village  through 
which  we  soon  afterwards  passed. 

When  we  had  journeyed  eighteen  miles  into  the 
country  I  was  told  we  were  in  Adams  Street,  and 
afterwards,  when  in  a  winding  lane  with  trees  on 
each  side,  and  without  a  house  iu  sight,  that  we  were 
in  Washington  Street  But  nothing  could  surprise 
e  again  after  having  been  told  one  day  in  New 


X 


[■/'*'  -- 


'I 


.\ 


U2 


'^ 


^  "'oi.  'ST  T-jj^^'Wt 


PLYMOUTH  BEACH.  [Chap.  VII. 

Hampshire,  when  seated  on  a  ropk  in  the  midst  of 
the  wild  woods,  far  from  anydwelUng,  that  I  was  in 
the  exact  centre  of  the  town.  . 

"  God  made  the  country,  and  man  made  the  town," 
sang  the  poet  Cowper:  and  I  can  well  fmagine  how 
the  v^iUage  pupils  must  be  puzzled  until  the  meaninir 
of  thja  verse  has  been  expounded  to"  them  by  the 
schoolmaster.  ^ 

On  the  whole,  the  scenery  of  the  Idw  granitic 
,  region  bordenng  the.Atl^tic  in  New  England  pre- 
serves  a  uniform  character  over  a  wide  space,  and  is 
without  striking  features,  yet'  occasionally  the  land- 
scape is  most  agreeable.     At  one  time  we  skirted  a 
swami/ bordered  by  red  cedars;  at  another  a  small 
lake,  then  hills  of  barren  sand,  then  a  wood  where 
the  sumach  and  oak,  with  red  and  yellow  fading 
leaves,  were  mixed  with  pines  ;  then  suddenly  a  bare 
rock  of  granite  or  gneiss  rises  up,  with  one  side  quite 
perpendicular,  fifteen  or  twenty-five  feet  high   and 
covered  o^  its  summit  with  birch,  fir,  and  oak 

We  admired  the  fine  avenues  of  drooping  elms  in 
the  streets  6f  Plymouth  as  we  entered,  and  went  to 
a  small  old-fashioned  inn  called  the  Pilgrim  House 
where  I   hired  a  carriage,  in    whieh  the  landlord  *' 
drove  us  at  once  to  see  the  bay  and  visit  Plymouth 
beach.     This  singular  bar  of  sand,  three  miles  long 
runs  ao»88  part  of  the  .bay  directly  opposite  the' 
town,  and,  two  miles  distant  from  it,  serving  as  a 
breakwater  to  the  port ;  in«tpite  of  which  the  sea  has 
been  making  great  inroads,  arid  might  have  swept 
away  all  the  wharves  but  for  this  protection.     As 
the  btr  was  fas^  waatiug  away,  the  Federal  Govern, 


•^ 


,h 


Chap.  VIL] 


-MARINE   SHELLS. 


113 


metft  employed  engineers  to  erect  a  wooden  frame- 
work, secured  with  piles,  a  mile  long,  whidh  has  been, 
filled  with  stones,  and  which  has  caused  an  accumu- 
lation of  sand  to  take  place.     This  beach  reminded  mo 
of  the  bar  of  Hurst  Castle,  in  Hampshire;  and  in 
both  cases  a  stream  pnters  the  bay  where  the  beach 
joins  the  land.     It  is  well  known  that  the  Plymouth 
bar  WM  a  narrow  neck  of  land  eighty  years  ago ;  and 
one  of  the  inhabitants  told  me  that  when  a  boy  he 
had  gathered,  nuts,  wild  grapes,  and  plums. there. 
Even  fifty  years  ago  some  stumps  of  trcites  were  still 
remaining,  whereas  nothing  can  now  be  seen  but  a 
swamp,  a  sea-beach,  and  some  shoals  adjoining  them. 
Here  I  spent  an  hour  with  my  wife  collecting  shells, 
and  we  found  eighteen   species,  twelve  peculiar  to 
America,  and  six  common  to  Europe;  namely,  Buc- 
cinum   undatum.   Purpura    lapillus,    Mya   arenaria, 
Cyprina   isiandica,  Modiola  papuana,   and   Mi/tilus 
edulisy  all  species  which  have  a  high  northern  range, 
and  which,  the  geologist  will  remark,  are  found  fossil 
in  the  drift  or  glacial  deposits  both  of  North  iime- 
rioa  and  Europe,  aijd  have  doubtless  continued  to 
inhabit  both  hemispheres  from  that  era.     South  of 
S^Q  Cod   the  mollusca  are   so  different  from  the 
assemblage  inhabiting  the  sea  north  of  that  cape,  that 
we  may  consider  it  as  the  limit  of  two  provinces  of 
marine  testacea. 

The  most  conspicuous  shell  scattered  over  thB 
smooth  sands  was  the  large  and  ponderous  Mactra 
soUdissima,  some  specimens  of  which ivere  six  inches 
and  a  half  in  their  greatest  length,  anl  much  larger 
and  heavier  than  any  British  bivalve.     The  broad 

^  ttiuBuular  tm2)ro8Biun  iir-thirinterior  61'  eaoH — 


114 


QUICKSAND.     ' 


[Chap.  VII. 


valve  18  indicative  of  a  great  power  of  clasping ;  and 
1  was  assured  by  -a  good  zoologist  of  Boston   that 
occasionally  when  the  coot,  or  velvet  duck  {Fuligula 
fmca\  or  the  blue-winged  teal  {Anas  discors),  dive 
m  the  hope  of  feeding  on  these  shell-fish,  the  moUusk 
has  been  known  to  close  upon  its  feathered  enemy, 
and  hold  it  fast  by  the  bill,  untU  it  was  drowned. 
Ihe  increased  surface  thus  presented  by  the  trapper 
and  the  trapped  soon  causes  them  to  break  from  their 
moorings,  and  when  next  day  both  are  cast  ashore 
together,  the  sportsman,  who  had  seen  the  bird  dive 
and  watched  eagerly,  but  in  vain  for  its  re-appeaJ-- 
ance,  learns  the  cause  pf  the  mystery. 

After  we  had  been  some  time  cJngaged  in  collecting 
shells,  we  turned  round  and  saw  the  horses  of  our 
vehicle  sinking  in  a  quicksand,  plunging  violently, 
and  evidently  in  the  greatest  terro^.  For  a  few 
mmutes  our  landlord,  the  driver,  expected  that  they 
and  the  carriage  and  himself  would  have  been  swal- 
lowed up ;  but  he  succeeded  at  last  in  quieting  them, 
and  after  they  had  rested  for  some  time,  though  still 
trembling,  they  had  strength  enough  to  turn  round, 
and  by  many  plunges  to  get  back  again  to  a  firm 
part  of  the  beach.  ^ 

The  wind  was  bitterly  cold,  and  we.  learnt  that  on 
the  evening  before  the  sea  had  been  frozen  over  near 
the  shore  ;  yet  it  was  two  months  later  when,  on  the 
■:  22d  of  December,  1 620,  now  called  Forefathers'  Day 
the  pilgrims,  consisting  of  101  souls,  landed  here  from' 
the  Mayflower.  No  wonder  that  half  of  them  pe- 
y^  rished  from  the  severity  of  the  first  winter.  They 
who  escaped  seem,  aa  if  in  compensation,  to  have 
been  "^warded  with  unusual  longevity.     We  anw  in,^ 


'•^'^fr^ 


r  r.  ^>f'^-%^^^r:sif^:^^;i^'^s^'g^-ifs^^Vi:  '<f--Hap?^^y!:^e5ir5f.-3s^^'^5£s^ 


Chap.  VII.]      NAMES   OF    PILGRIM   FATHERS.  115 

the  grave-yard  the  tombs  of  not  a  few  whose  ages 
ranged  from  seventy-nine  to  ninety-nine  years.     The 
names  inscribed  on  their  monuments  are  very  cha- 
racteristic of  Puritan  times,  with  a  somewhat  gro- 
tesque  mixture  of  other  very  familiar  ones,  as  Je- 
rusha,  SaUy,  Adoniram,  Consider,  Seth,  Experience, 
Dorcas,  Polly,  Eunice,  Eliphalet,  Mercy,  &c     The 
New  Englanders  laugh  at  the  people  of  the  «  Old 
Colony"  for  remaining  in  a.  primitive  state,  and  are 
hopmg  that  the  railroad   from  Boston,  now  nearly 
complete,  may  soon  teach  them  how  to  go  a-head. 
But  they  who  visit  the  town  for  the  sake  of  old 
associations,  will  not  cotnplain  of  the  antique  style 
of  many  of  the  buildings,  and  the  low  rooms  with 
panelled  walls,  and  huge  wooden  beams  projecting 
from  the  ceilings,  such  as  I  never  saw  elsewhere  in 
America.     Some  houses  built  of  brick  brought  from 
Holland,  notwithstanding  the  abundance  of  Ibrick- 
earth  in  the  neighbourhood,  were  pointed  out  to  us 
in  Leyden   Street,   so.  called   from   the   last  town 
in  Europe  where  the  pilgrims  sojourned  after  they 
had  been  driven  out  of  their  native  country  by  re- 
ligious persecution.      In    some -private   houses   we 
were  interested  in  maiy  venerated  heir-looms,  kept 
as  relics  of  the  first  settlers,,  and  among  others  an 
antique  chair  of  carved  wood,  which  came  over  in 
the  Mayflower,  and  still  retains  the  marks  of  the 
staples  which  fixed  it  to  the  floor  of  the  cabin.    This, 
together   with   a  seal   of  Governor  Winslow,   was 
shown    me    by   an   elderiy  '  lady,    Mrs:  Haywood,' 
daughter  of  a  Winslow  and  a  White,  and  who  re- 
ceived  them   from  her  grandmother.     In  a   public 
building,   ealltd   Pilgrim  ftSll,  w^  saw  other  me:~" 


it  . 


t'lm  I 


-J— J-    (- ty.-ve.yj'}"-!  Ti"^  V 


!*n 


i  I 


"«  PILGMM    EELICS.'  [c,,,.  yu, 

tl  f  T^^.  f^  ""^  ''"'""S'^d  to  Peregrine  White. 

it  fit  '  '"".  '"  ""«  ™'°"y'  ^-J  -'-t  came  to 
hm  from  h.,  mother,  and  had  been  preserved  to  the 
fifth  generation  in.- the  same.fartUy,  when  it  „»! 

wratt^  f:  *",  ''"  ^"-^  %  t  "id"  on 
In  the  same  collection,  they  have  a  chair  brouit 
over  m  the  Mayflower,   and  the  hdm-et  of  KW 
PhJ.p,  the  Indian  chief,  with  whom  the^^rst  settkri 
had  many  a  desperate  light.  pf^ 

sunt  ?„Th  ''k^TI  "^  ^'•"^'  "  '«'»'*»  •'Wok  lay 
sunk  m  the  beach,.has  always  been  tr«litionally  de- 
clared to  have  been  the  exact  spot  which  the  felt  of 
the  p,lg„ms  first  trod  when  they  landed  here;  and 
par    of  this  same  rock  still^maihs  on  the  wharf 
while  another  portion  has  be&Vemoved  to  *  lent:;' 
of  the  to*n,  and  enclosed  within  'an  iron  railinc,  on 
which  the  names  of  forty-two  of  the  Pilgrim  Father 
are  mscnbed.     They  who  cannot  sympafhise  wally 
with  the  New  Englanders  for  cherishing  these  Zl 
cious  rehca    are  not  to  be  envied,  and  if  is  a  praise- 
worthy custom  to  celebute  an  annual  festival,  not 
on^y  her,,  but  in  pl«,cs  several  thousand  mUe^  dis- 

^rts  of  the  Union,  we  hear  of  settlers  from  the 
North  meetmg  on  the  22d  of  December  to  comme- 
niorate  the  birth-day  of  New  England;  and  when 
they  speak  fondly  of  their  native  hills  and  valley^ 
and  recall  he.r  early  recollections,  they  are  drawing 
doacr  the  ties  which  bind  together  a  variety  of  inde! 
pendent  States  into  one  gi^ confederation. 


ly 


■s.'T       '"■^■^i-   s 


'  i^rf^a^fe   ''■^c-^T^T^|g^r'=si5?r^.?j^^^^i5^4=-f^^ 


in 


Chap.  VII.]  PEREGRINE   WHITE.  ,       ' 

*- 

Colonel  Perkins,  of  Boston,' well  (known  for  his 
munificence,  especially  in  founding  tie  Asylum"  for 
the  Blind,  informed  me,  in  1846,  that  there  was  but 
one  link  wanting  in  the  chain  of  personal  communi- 
cation between  him  and  Peregrine  White,  the  first 
white  child  born  in  Massachusetts,  a  few  days  after 
the  pilgrims  landed.     White  lived  to  an  advanced 
age,  and  was  known  to  a  man  of  the  name  of  Cobb, 
whom  Colonel  Perkins  visited,  in  1807,  with  some 
friends  who  yet  survive.     Cobb  died  in  1808,  ftie 
year  after  Colonel  Perkins  saw  him.     He  was  then' 
bhnd ;  but  his  memory  fresh  for  every  thing  which 
had  happened  in  his  manhood.     He  had  served  as  a  ' 

.  soldier  at  the  taking  of  Louisbourg  in  Cape  Breton, 
in  1745,  and  remembered  when  there  were  many 

•  Indians  near  Pfymouth.     T/ie  inhabitants,  occasion- 
ally  fired  a  cannon  near  the  town  to  frighten  them,' 

r^ii^'o-^''  ''''"°*'"  *^"  ^"^^^"«  g^^e  tJ^e  name  of 
"  Old  Speakum." 

When  we  consider   the  grandeur  of  the  results 
which  have  been  realised  in  the  interval  of  225  years 
since  the  Mayflower  sailed  into  Plymouth  harbour^ 
—how  in  that  period  a  nation  of  twenty  millions  of 
souls  has  sprung  into  existence  and  peopled  a  vast 
continent,  and  covered  it  with  cities,  and  churches, 
schools,  colleges,  and  railroads,  and  filled  its  rivers 
and  ports  with  steam-boats  and  shipping,_we  regard 
the  pilgrim  relics  with  that  kind  of  veneration  which 
trivial   objects    usually  derive  from  high    antiquity 
alone.     For  we  measure  time  not  by  the  number  of 
arithmetical  figures  representing  years  or  centuries, 
but  by  the  importance  of  a  long  series  of  events 


^     a    I 


t 


'  il 


■u 

f'.  i 
j 

J:    I 


''!     1 


118  AUTHENTICITY   op" HELICS.      [Chap!  VII. 

•     Which   strike  the  imagination.   .When  I  expressed 
these  sentiments  to  a  Boston  friend,  he  asked  me, 
Why,  then,  may  we  not  believe  in  the  relics  of  the 
,-    early  Christians  displayed  at  Rome,  w^ch  they  say 
the  mbther  of  Constantine  brought  home  from  the 
iioly  Land^only  Ihree  centurie^  after  Christ-such, 
for  example   as  the  true  cToss,  the  cradle  in  which 
-the  infant  Jesus  lay,, the  clothes  in  which  he  was 
wrapped  up,  and  the  table  on  which  the  last  Supper 
was  laid?     The  Puritans  also  believed,  as  do  tl^ir 
descendants,  that  they  were  suffering  in  the  cause  of 
religious  truth,  and  this  feeling. may  have  imparted 
additional  sanctity  to  all  memorials  of  their  exile  and 
adventures;  yet  how  incomparably  greater  must  have 
been  the  veneration  felt  by  the  early  Christians  for 
all  that  belonged  to  their  divine  teacher  I"    These  ob- 
seryations  led  me  to  dwell  on  the  relative  authen- 
ticity  of  the  relics  in  the  two  cases-the  clearness  of 
the  historical  evidence  in  the  one,  its  worthlessness 
m  the  other.    It  has  been  truly  said  that  the  strencrth 
of  every  chain  of  historical  testimony,  like  that  of  a 
Cham  of  brass  or  iron,  must  be  measured  by  the  force 
of  Its  weakest  link.     The  earliest  links  in  every  tra- 
ditional tale  are  usually  the  weakest;  but^n  the  case 
of  the  sacred  objects  said  to  have  been  obtained  by 
C^ueen  Helena,  there  are  more  links  absolutely  want- 
ing, or  a  greater  chasm  of  years  without  any  records 
whatever,  than  the  whol6  period  which  separates  our 
times  from  those  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers.     The  cre- 
duh  y  of  Helena,  the  notorious  impostures  of  the 
monks  of  her  age,  the  fact  that  three  centuries  elapsed 
before  it  was  pretended  that  the  true  cross  had  been 


^'^  %^*' 


Chap.  VII.]      AUTHENTICITY  OF   RELICS^  119 

preserved,  and  another  century  before  it  was  proved 
to  he  genuine  by  miracles,  and  a  still  farther  lapse  of 
time  before  all  doubt  was  set  at  rest  by  the  resus- 
citation of  a  dead  person— the  extravagance  of  sup- 
posing that  the  Christians,  when  they  escaped  with 
difficulty  from  Jerusalem,  just  before  the  siege,  should 
have  carried  with  them  in  their  flight  so  cumbersome 
a  piece  6f  furniture  as  the  table,  have  all  been  well 
exposed.*     But  in  regard  to  the  genuineness  of  all 
the  pilgrim  treasures  shown  me  at  Plymouth  and 
elsewhere,  I  indulged  entire  faith,  until  one  day  my 
confidence  was  disturbed  in  the  Museum  at  Salem. 
A  piece  of  furniture  which  came  over  in  the  May- 
flower was  pointed  out  to  me,  and  the  antiquary  who 
was  my  guide,  remarked,  that  as  the  wood  of  the  true 
cross,  scattered  over  Christendom,  has  been  said  to 
be  plentiful  enough  to  build  a  man-of-war,  so  it  might 
be  doubted  whether  a  ship  of  the  line  would  contain 
all  the  heavy  articles  which  freighted  the  Mayflower 
in  her  first  voyage,  although  she  was  a  vessel  of  only 
180  tons.     I  Immediately  recollected  a  large  heavy 
table,  which  I  had  seen  in  1842,  in  the  rooms  of  the 
Historical  Society  at  Boston,  which  they  told  me  had 
come  over  in  the  Mayflower,  and  my  attention  Cd 
been  called  to  the  marks  of  the  staples  which  fixed  it 
to  the  cabin  floor.    I  accordingly  returned  to  that  Mu- 
seum, and  found  there  the  sword  of  Elder  Brewster, 
as  well  as  that  with  which  Colonel  Church  cut  off"  King 
Philip's  ear,  and  the  gun  with  which  that  formidable 
Indian  warrior  was  shot.     The  heavy  table,  too,  was 

♦  Second  Travels  of  an  Irish  Gentleman,  1833,  vol.  ii.  p.  186. 


IH 


u 


120  AUTHENTICITY    OF   RELICS.^    [Chap.. VII. 

there,  measuring  two  feet  six  Inches  In  height,  six 
feet  in  length,  aAd  five  feet  In  breadth,  and  I  asked 
Mr.  Savage,  the  President  of  the  Society,  how  they 
obtafced  it.  -  It  Imd  certainly  belonged,  he  said,  to 
Governor  Carver,  but  reasonable  doubts  were  enter- 
tained whether  it  had  ever  been  brought  to  New 
England  in  the  Mayflower,  especially  in  the  month 
of  December,  1620 ;  «  for  you  ai»  aware,"  he  added, 
"  that  the  Mayflower  made  several  voyages,  and  at 
each  trip  Imported  many  valuables  of  this  kind."     In 
an  instant,   more  than  half  my  romance  about  the 
pilgrim  relics  was   dispelled.      They  lost   half  the 
charms  with  which  my  implicit  faith  had  invested 
them,  fen-  I   bcgaii  to   consider   how   many  of  thr 
chairs  and  tables  I  had  gazed  upon  with 'so  much 
interest,  might  have  been  «  made  to  order,"  by  cabli^et 
makers  in  the  old  country,  and  sent  5ut  {o  the  new 
colonists.     Byron  has  said  — 

"  There's  ngt  a  joy  tl.is^woild  can  give  like  (liat  it  takes  awoy  ;" 

and  some  may  think  the  same  of  certain  lines  of 
historical  research.  J  nmst,  however,  declare  my 
firm  belief  that  some  of  ttie  articles  shown  me  at 
Plymouth  1X1^  true  and  genuine  relics  of  the  olden 

.  time  — trca^res  which  really  accompanied  the  h6roio 
band  who  first  landed  on  tlra  beach  of  Plymouth 

liuy,  and  which  deserve   to   bo  handed  doWn  with 
reverential  caro  to  posterity. 

On  our  way  back  from  Plymouth  to  Boston,  we 
passed  near  the  village  of  East  Weymouth,  by  a 
<lecoy  pond,  where  eight  wild  geese,  cjdlod  (.^au.Kla 


a-iJi^t^i.-  .■..-^-...i.  ....  ^    . 


-.tl 


Chap.  VII.] 


DECOY  P6nd. 


121 

n.the  middle  of  a  sheet  of  water  was  a  tame  goose 

weight ,  and  near  it  were  a  row  of  wooden  imitations 
of  geese,  the  sight  of  which,  and  tU^cries  of  th    Um 
goose,  atract  the  wild  birds.     A,  soon  ai  theyfly 
down,  they  are  shot  by  sportsmen  of  a  trne  New 
England  stamp,  not  like  the  Indian  hunter,  iinZ 

^71,^1   ?','""''""'"«  "11  day  at  his  own  door, 

^UDiedil'rf.-^""  ''''""  "y"'  "''"'  h"   >■-<) 
occupied  m  stitching  "russet  brogans-'or  boots  for  the 

ceits,  or  tenpence  a  pair.  After  working  an  hour 
or  two,  he  seizes  his  gun  and  down  come!  a  gl" 
which  may  fetch  in  the  Boston  market,  in  fuW 

oTCr"""""""^-"'"^'^-"^"'-"^^ 

wofden"?  W^chcd  the  capital,  we  met  a  lai^e 
wooden  barn  drawn  by  twenty-four  oxen.     It  was 

behind  Wards,  as   fost  „  the  barn   p„ss<kI   over 
them.     Iho  removal  „f  ,hi,  lame  buildine  had  h« 
come  necessary,  because  it  st  Jdirectly  '    :  Jl" 
of  the  new  railway  from  Boston  to  I'lyniontl    ^S 
"  to  be  opened  in  «  few  weeks      A  Ml' 
told  U8  Of  a  wooden  mcotinp-houee  in  Hadlcv  wS 
Had  been  tranflferrcd  in  like  mnnnor  .        "'•'^'  '^*"°*» 
Iniia  r.„.*     r  .1  manner  to  a  njore  nonu- 

ious  part  of  the  townsluD      «' Tn    Pn  r  i      .     ' 

:l:r.:k„s'r''''°  «'■-'" ''-'f.j''«'ievo.L. 

VOL.  1..  Q 


■♦; 


*  ■■     "    •'^'^y-:^  ^.S^~\  - 


122 


EXCURSION   TO   SALEM. 


[Chap,  VII. 


Nov.  6. — Made  an  excursion  to  the  seaport  of 
Salem,  about  fourteen  miles  to  the  N.  E.  of  Boston, 
a  place  of  17,000  inhabitants. 

Dr.  Wheatland,  a  young  physician,  to  whom  I 
had  gone  without  letters   of  introduction,   politely 
showed  us  over  the  Museum  of  Natural  History,  of 
which  he  was  curator ;  and  over  another  full  of  ar- 
ticles illustrative  of  the  arts,  manners,  and  customs 
of  the  East  Indies,  China,  and  Japan ;  for  most  of 
the  American  merchants  and  sea-captains  who  have 
traded  with  those  countries  originated  in  Salem  and 
the  vicinity.     In  both  collections  there  are  a  variety 
of  objects  which  may  appear,  on  a  hasty  view,  to  form 
a  heterogeneous  and  unmeaning  jumble,  but  which  are 
really  curious  and  valuable.    Such  repositories  ought 
to  accompany  public  libraries  in  every  large  city,  for 
thiey  afford  a  kind  of  instruction  which  cannot  be 
obtained  from  books.     To  public  lectures,  which  are 
much  encouraged  here,  and  are  effective   means  of 
stimulating  the  minds  of  all  classes,  especially  the 
middle  and  lower,  they  furnish  essential  aid.  Among 
other  speciraengf  of   natural   history,    too   large   to 
bo  conveniently  accommodated  in  any  private  house, 
I    was  glad   of  an  opportunity   of  examining   the 
groat  jaw-bones   and   teeth   of  the    Squalut  serri- 
dens,  from  the  South  Seas,  which  reminded  me,  by 
their  serrated  outline,  of  the  teeth  of  the  fossil  Zeu- 
glodon,  hereafter  to  be  mentioned.     I  was  well  pleased 
to  observe  that  the  shells  of  the  neighbouring  coast 
had   not   been   neglecte(^  for  people   are   often  as 
ignorant  of  the  natural  history  of  the  region  tliey 


^^ 


fjiup.  VII.] 


MUSEUM. 


123 


inhabit,    especially  of   the    lakes,   rivers    anH   ti. 
-a.  a,  of  the  flora  and  fauna  'of  thr'anit 
Many  cunons  log-books  of  the  early  sea-cap Sof 
th«  port    who  ventured  in  extreme  ignoran  e  of 
.     geography  on  distant  voyages,   are  pres^erv  d  I^ 
and  attest  the  daring  spirit  of  those  hardy  nav^J  !"' 
S«n.e  of  them  sailed  ,„  India  by  the  Cape  wlthou; 
»  smgle  chart  or  map.  except  that  smaJl  'lie  ^    the 
world  on  Mercator-s  projection,  contained  in  G«h 
nesGeogmphy.    They  used  no  sextants ;  but,  w"  k- 
■ng  their  dead-reckoning  with   chalk  on   a  nZk 
guessed  at  the  sun's  position  with  their  hand,  at  nl 

^nobtairtOsTiixtriir^^^^^ 

terntojy  ^ach  worth  no  less  than  100  dolll    Th! 

ta^TIr'^'-^'^  in  the  Sandt  hlwr 
and  bartered  these  and  other  articles  in  China  fne„ 
On  such  slender  means,  and  so  lately  as  "f,l'     K 
«paration  of  the  col„„ies  from  En2n,r  »f    . 
when  there  was  not  „  single  Ameriats^t  of  UT: 

L  ma'"""  '";'"""  '""'  *»  f""-'  tho-  oomn,!." 
Uid  many  merchante  of  Boston  anrl    Q„i  . 

ioundation,  of  the  princely  CncTlyt:  5„!" 

In    he  course  of  .,,„  d„y  „,  .i,;,^,,  ,/      *  « W 

.t  halen,,  where  they  keep  the  war^nts  i^Ld  b! 

he  judge.  ^  the  high  sheriff  in  the  yean.  1692  .nd 

death    Tl         """"™  '"  »"»>•«»   «-«"H"»n«lt^ 

«l«ed.  and  that  cat«  h«d  h««n  ...l..  :,.     _/'«"««  ^'^^ 


«  9 


ilii  and  that 


■> . 

V 


•  man 


^i^i.^JXi.,£MS-^  u      s 


'^W 


124 


EXECUTION   OF   WITCHES. 


I 


[Chap,  VIL 

had  been  plerced-^y  a  knitting-needle  to  the  depJh 
of  four  inches,  the  wound  healing  tlie  instant  the 
Ayitch  had  been  taken  up.  A  bottle  is  preserved, 
which  had  been 'handed  into  the  court  at  the  time 
of  the  tri^^l  full  of  pins,  with  which  young  women 
had  been  tormented.  Some  of  the  girls,  from 
whose  bodies  these  pins  had  been  -extracted,  after- 
wards confessed  to  a  conspiracy.  In  the  evening 
^^•e  walked  to  the  .place  called  Gallows  Hill,  in  the 
suburbs  of  the  city,  where  no  less  than  nineteen 
persons  were  hanged  as  witches,  in  the  course  of 
fifteen  months. 

It  is  impossible  not  to  shudder  when  we  reflect 
that  these  victims  of  a  dark  superstition  were  tried, 
^o  late  as  the  year    1692,    by  intelligent   men,  by 
judges  who,  though  thej;^may  have  been  less  learned, 
are  reputed  to  have  been  as  upright  as  Sir  Matthew 
Hale,  who,  in  England,  condemned  a  witch  to  death 
m  1665.     The  prisoners  were  also  under  the   pro- 
tection of  a  jury,  a"hd  the  forms  of  law,  copitjd  from 
the  British  courts,  so  favourable  to  the  accused  in 
capital  offences.     Wc   learn   from    history  that   an 
epidemic  resembling  epilepsy  raged   at  the  time  in 
Massachusetts,  and,  being  attributed  to  witchcraft, 
solemn  fasts  and  meetings  for.  extraordinary  prayers 
were   appointed  to  implore.  Heaven   to  avert  that 
evil,  thereby  consecrating  and  confirming  the  popular 
belief  in  its  alleged  cause.     As  the  punishment  of 
the  guilty  was  thought  to  bo  a  certain  remedy  for 
the  disorder,  the  morbid  imagination  of  the  patient 
promj)ted  him  to  suspect  eomc  individual  to  bo  the 


rmsifigmmmm 


wm 


Chap.VII.I      causes  of   the    PERSECnTION.  125 

author  of  hie  sufferings,  a„d  his  evidence  that  he  had 
~«esn  spectral  apparitions  of  witches  inflictincr  tor- 

^^' Tl  ^l"  *"'  ^"^""'^  ^  conclusive.  One  hun- 
dred arid  fifty  persons  were  in  prison  awaiting  trial, 
and  two^undred  others  had  been  presented  to  the 

,  magistrate,  when  the  delusion  was  di8s!,mted  by 
charges  bang  brought  against  the  wife  of  the  Go- 

,    ™™»'- Pl-PPf.  "nd  some  of  the^agarest  relatives  of 

t^r  h  V""..'^*"'''^  '""'"'•  I'  V  'hen  found 
that  by  far  the  greater  number  of  atrocities  had  been 
prompted  by  fear:  for  during  this  short  reign  of 
error  the  popukr  mind  war  in  so  disordered  a  state 
that  almost  everjr  one  had  to  choose  between  beins 
an  accuser  or  a  victim,  and  from  this  motive  many 
afterwards  confessed  that  they  had  brought  char  J 

'  iriVfifl    tf "«  "7r '"*«  "»  1716 ;  but  still  later, 
m  176«,  the  Seceders  in  ScoUand  published  an  ac 
of  thejr  asBocate  Presbytery,  denouncing  that  me 
,  ^orable  act  of  the  English  parliament  whi^h  re^ 
aU  the  penal  statutes  against  witchcraft. 

<-.,!  T'"!.'  '■'""'■°"''°  P"''  l-y  ">«  Puritan,  a„,I 
S^tch  Seeeders  to^he  Jewish  and  Christian  Scrip- 
turos  (,f,  indeed,  they  did  not  hold  the  Old  Ten 
tament  .n  greater  veneration  than  the  New),  was  the 
chief  cause  of  the  superstition  which  let  to  ^^ 

i,    ri  r^t'l^t     '"'''  """■  '""''^' '"  «»"»on     tt 
to  the  Chnsfan  samts  of  the  middle  ages,  because 

*  See  "  Grtlmni's  ULtory,"  vol.  i.  ch.  v.  p.  392 
y      a  3 


m 


'f  i  i 


126  CONVERSATION  WITH  [Chap.  VIL 

^  they  were  not  supported  by  sufficient  historical  tes- 
tunony.  I'hey  had  stood  forward  in  the  face  01  croe! 
persecutions  courageously  to  vindicate  the  right  of 

•  private  jujigment;  and  they  held  it  to  be,  liot  only 
the  privilege,  but.  the  duty,  of  every  Christian,  lay- 
man or  ecclesiastic,  to  exercise  his  reason,  and  not 
yield  himself  up  blindly  to  the  authority  of  an  earthly 
teacher.     Yet,  if  any  one  dared,  in  1692,  to  call  in 
question  the   existence  of  witchcraft,^  he  was  stig- 
matised  as  an  infidel,  and  refuted  by  the  story  of 
tlie  Witch  of  Endor  evoking  the  ghost  of  the  dead 
Samuel.     Against  the  1-e6urrence  of  such  dreadful 
crimes  as  those  perpetrated  in  the  years  1692-93, 
society  U  now  secured,  not  by  judgps  and  juries  of 
H   more  conscientious  character  or  deeper  sense  of 
religious  responsiBIlity^  but  by  the  general  spread  of 
knowledge^  or  that  more  enlightened  public  opinion, 
which  can  never  exist^in  the  same-perfection  in  the 
minds  of  the  initiated  few,  so  long  as  the  multitude 
with  whom    they  must   be   in  contact  are  kept  in 
dijrknesf. 

On  our  return  from  Salem  to  Boston,  we  found  the 
treats  immediately  before  us  in  the  railway  car  occu- 
pied by  two  coloured  men,  who  were  laughing  and 
talking  famijiarly  with  two  negro  women,  apparently 
servant  maids.  The  women  left  us  at  the  first  sta- 
tion,  and  wq  then  entered  into  conversation  with  the  ' 
men,  who,  perceiving  by  our  accent  that  we  were 
f«>roignerH,  were  ourious  to  know  what  we  thought  of 
their  country.  Hearing  that  it  was  our  intention  to 
wjijterin  the  South,  the  elder  traveller  "hoped  wo 


Chap.  VII.]      COLOURED  ABOLITIONISTS.  127 

^      should   not  be  tainted  there.?'     My  wife,  supposin.. 
he  alluded  to  the  yellow  fever,  said,  "We  shall  be 
there  in  the  cool  season.'^ .  He  replied,  "I  was  think- 
ing of  the  moral  atmosphere  of  the  Southern  States." 
His.  pronunciation  and  expressioq  were  so  entirely 
those  of >a  well-feducated  white  man,  that  we  were 
surprised,  and,  talking  freely  with  him  and  his  com- 
panion, learnt  that  the  elder,  who  was  very  black,  but 
not  quite  a  full  negro,  was  from  Delaware,  and  had 
been  educated  at  an    «  abolition  college"   in  Ohio. 
The  younger,  who  was  still  darker,  had  been  ft  slave 
m  Kentucky,  and  had  run  away.     They  were  tra- 
vellmg  to  collect   funds   for  a  school  for  runaway 
negroes,  near  Detroit,  and  expressed  great  satisfac- 
tion that  at  Salem  they  had  found  "the  coloured  and 
white  children  all  taught  together  in  the  same  school, 
this  not  being  the  case  in  Boston."     I  told  them  that 
1  had  just  seen  a  whitelandholder  from  Barbadoes, 
who  had  assured  me  that  cmancipatitfti  had  answered 
well  m  that  island ;  that  there  was  a. coloured  man  in 
the  legislature,  another  in  the  executive  councU,  and 
several  in  tU  magistracy,  and  that  much   progress 
had  been  made  in  the  general  education  of  the  blackV. 
Ihe  Delawarian   remarked  that  this  was  cheering 
news,  because  the  recent  bad  success  of  his  race  in 
Hayti  had  been  used  as  an  argument  by  the  southern 
planters  against  their  natural  capacity  for  civilisation.        ' 
He  then  descanted  on  the  relative  liberality  of' feeling 
towards  coloured  men  in  the  various  Free  States,  and 
was  very  scvpre  on  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Ohio,     i 
expresrtJd  surprise  in  regard  to  Ohio;  but  the  Ken- 

ok 


..ij!'. 


»»-T?«^?^^W«'  .-■SIPK 


,^ 


128  WHITE  AND  NEGRO  RACES.      [Chap.  VII. 

tucklan  affirmed  that  the  law  there  afforded  no  real 
equality  of  protection  to  the  black  man,  aahe  could 
not  give  evidence  in  courtTrrf  law,  but  must  procure 
a  white  man  as  a  witness.     There  had  been  a  scuffle, 
he  said,  lately  between  a  maa  of  colour  and  a  white 
at  Dayton;  and,  on  the  white  being  killed,  the  mob 
had  risen   and  puUed  down  the  houses  of  all  the 
other  black  people.     He  went  on  narrating  stories  of 
planters  shooting  their  slaves,  and  other  tales  of  Ken- 
tucky, tlie  accuracy  of  which  my  subsequent  visit 
to  that  State  gave^me  good  reason  to  question.     But 
I  could  not  help  being  amused  with  the  patriotism  of 
this  man;  for,  however  unenviable  he  may  have  found 
his  condition  as  a  slave,  he  was  still  a  thorough  Ken- 
tuckian,  and  ready  to  maintain  that  in  climate,  soil, 
and  every  other  quality,  that  State  was  immeasurably 
superior  to  the  rest  of  the  Union,  especially  to,  Ohio, 
emaricipation  alone  being  wanting  to  demonstrate  this 
fact  to  the  world. 

This  adventure  confirmed  me  in  the  opinion  I  had* 
previously  formed,  that  if  the  coloured  men  had  fair 
play,  and  were  carefully  educated,  thevlS^t  sopn  be 
safely  entrusted  with  equality  of  civil  and  political' 
rights.     Whatever  may  be  tlieir  pre^nt  inferiority 
as  a  race,  some  of  them  have  already  ^own  superio'r 
abilitieg^to  a  great  many  of   the   dominant  whites. 
Whether,  in  the  course  of  many  generations,  after 
the  intense  prejudices  indulged  against   them   have 
abated,  they  would  come  up  to  the  intellectual  stand- 
ard of  Europeans,  is  a  question  which  time  alone  can 
decide.    It  has  been  affirmed  by  some  anatomists  that 

/ 


/ 


i^4{b'JSi^.T(B«'!'-"-    ,     .jfSIS^'«>.-^l9g5^V'^<,nss^«Yi-7I,TO»    A^^""  "«Hpf|l^lfa«I^?!'SBf« 


B^  , 


CSAP.  VnO  *i#ilTE   ANi>   NEGRO   RACES.  129 

'^^Id'^ZfT  f'"  "^SfO'csemblcs  that  of  a  white 
cMd,  and  Tiedemann,  judging  by  the  capacity  of 
the  cranium    found  the  brains  of  some  of  our  un 
cuvdised  Bnt  sh  ancestors  not  more  develop^  than 
the  average-sized  negro's  brain.    He  says,  "The  els 
undoub  ediy  a  ve^  close  connection  between  the  all 
solule  s,ze  of  the  brain  and  the  intellectual  poler, 
and  functions  of  the  mind."    After  a  long  series  rf 

thaTtHrl  "'-^T'"^'  -e  refute!  the  ie    . 
that  the  bram  of  a  negro  has  more  resemblance  to  that 
of  the  orangoutang  than  to  the  European  brain.- 

Mr  Owen  having  some  years  ago  made  a  post- 
mo   em  examination  at  St.  Bartholomew's  Hos  J^I 

d.d  not  weigh  more  than  the  average  brain  of  a  youth 
,f«.m  the  educated  classes,  of  the  a|e  of  fourteen ;  and 

t^^Z' '"  *  '^"f.^".'"'  ^"''J-''  "«"  '-  ■-  not 
aware     of  any  modification  of  form  or  size  in  the 

."hfEtl  ■"**  """"  ^"PP"--'  »"  -f-encethat 

.he  E  hiopian  ,^e  would  not  profit  by  the  same  in- 

fluences  favouring  mental  and  moral  improvement 
which  have  tended  to  elevate  the  priraifively  bat 
barous  white  races  of  men."  y  uar 

The  reparation  of  the  coloured  childi-ei,  in  the 
Bos^n  schools,  before  alluded  to,  arose,,.  I  afte 

feelings,  but  because  they  find  they  can  in  this  way 

.he"w  """"t""^  ««*«=■••    Up  to  the  age  of  fourte™ 
the  bl,ck  chddren  advance  as  fast  as  the  whites ;  b„f 

•  riiil.  Trans.  London,  1836,  p.  497. 
a  5 


-■^1  fl  • 


.-v.-..' 


130    ^ 


HALF   BREEDS. 


[Chap.  VII. 


after  that. age,  unless  there  be  an  admixture  of  white 
blood,  it, becomes,  in  most  instances,  extremely  diflS- 
cult  to  carry  them  forwards.  That  the  halif  breeds 
sliould  be  intermediate  between  the  two  parent  stocks, 
and  that  the  coloured  race  should  therefore  gain  in 
mental  capacity  in  proportion  as  it  approximates  in 
physical  organisation  to  the  whites,  seems  natural; 
and  yet  it  is  a  wonderful  fact,  psychologically  consi- 
dered, that  we  should  be  able  to  trace  the  phenomena 
of  hybridity  even  into  the  world  of 'intellect  and 
reason. 


^ 


I 


.  \ » -"W'tf  "^^ '  s*B^^^^9^Tf  SK«'«w,'*i'^«ff!5'*«;?»Bss,vfiss5=^'iy»w;?^^^.!«^"'^f3^ 


tmm 


'<^ 


:hap.  VII. 

of  white 
ely  diflS- 
[f  breeds 
it  stocks, 
;  gain  in 
mates  in 
natural ; 
ly  consi- 
enomena 
lect  and 


Chap.  VIII.]  pqSSIL  SEA  SERPENT. 


\ 


131 


CHAP.  VIII. 

Pretended  Fossa  Sea  Serpent,  or  Zeuglodon,  from  Alaba,na  - 
Recent  Appearance  of  a  Sea  Serpent  in  the  OrdfofStta^ 
[^^;~^nJor.ayin  I845-,i.  Cape  A^tlltZs, 

mwt*''  f '  ''^  f  "^  «*^^  ^"  ^-*-'  October 
1«45,  we  one  day  saw  the  walls  in  the  principal  streets 

in/in  f  ^^  conspicuously.     On  approach- 

>ng  near  enough  to  read  the  smaller  type  of  this 
advertisement,  I  found  that  Mr.  Koch  was  about  to 
exbb,t  to  the  Bostonians  the  fossil  skeleton  of  "hi 
colossal  and  terrible  .-e^ile  the  sea  serpent,  which 
^;^en  ahve,  measured  \hTrty  feet  in  circum/erence!' 
Ihe  pubhc  were  also  informed  that  this  hydrarchos  or 
water  kmg,.was  the  leviathan  of  the  Book  of  Job 
chapter  xh.    I  shall  have  occasion  in  the  sequel,  when    ' 
descnbmg  my  expedition  in  Alabama  to^he    .act 

t)v  Mr.  Koch,  of  showmor  that  thev  belono-  to  the 


belong 


^euglodon.  first  made  out  by  Mr.  Owen  .o  oe  an 
extmct  c^acean  of  truly  vast  dimensions,  and  which 


to  be 


J  : 


ffS" 


132 


SEA  SERPENT   IN 


[Chap,  VlII- 


\ 


/V---\  "' 


lascertalned  to  be  referable  geologically  to  the  Eocene 
period. 

In  the  opinion  of  the  best  comparative  anatomists, 
there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  this  fossil  whale 
bore  any  resemblance  in  form,  when  alive,  to  a 
snake,  although  the  bones  of  the  vertebral  column, 
having  been  made  to  form  a  Continuous  series  more 
than  100  feet  in  length,  by  the  union  of  vertebra 
derived  from  more  than  one  individual,  were  in^re- 
niously  arranged  by  Mr.  Koch  in  a  serpentine  fom, 
so  as  to  convey  the,  impression  that  motion  was  pro- 
duced by  vertical  flexures  of  the  body. 

At  the  very  time  when  I  had  every  day  to  give 
an  answer  to  the  question,  whether  I  really  believed 
the  great  fossil  skeleton  from  Alabama  to  be  that  of 
the  sea  serpent  formerly  seen  on  the  coast  near  Bos- 
ton, I  received  news  of  the  re-appearance  of  the  same 
serpent  in  a  letter  from  my  friend  Mr.  J.  W.  Daw- 
son, ofPictou,  In  Nova  Scotia.    This  geologist,  with 
whom   I   explored    Nova  Scotia  in   1842,°  said   he 
was  collecting  evidence  for  me  of  the  appearance,  in 
the   month    of  August,    1845,   at   Merigomish,   in 
the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  of  a  marine   monster, 
about  100  feet  long,   seen  by  two  intelligent  ob- 
servers nearly  aground  in  calm  water,   within  200 
feet  of  the  beach,  where  it  remained  in  sight  about 
half   an   hour,   and    then   got  off   with   difficulty. 
One  of  the  witnesses  went  up  a  bank  in  order  to 
look  down  upon  it.     They  said  it  sometimes  raised 
its  head  (which  resembled  that  of  a  seal)  partially, 
out  of  the  water.     Along  its  back  were  a  number  of 
humps  or  i>rotuberance8,  which,  in  the  opinion  of  the 


» 


S"fT 


lSiSjf»-S»' 


Chap.  VIII.]      gulp  OP  ST.  LAWREHCE.  133 

observer  on  the  beach,  were  true  humps,  while  the 

of  the  body  Betweeu  the  head  and  the  first  pro- 
ubemnce,  there  was  a  straight  part  of  thebackof 
—rab  e  length,  and  this  part  was  genen.%  above 
water  The  colour  appeared  black,  and  the  skin  had 
a  rough  appearance.  •  The  animal  was  seen  to  bend 
.ts  body  ahnost  into  a  circle,  and  again  to  unbendl 

knttiTltr  .f,T,.^'-'--Voportio„  to  iL 
length.     After  ,t  had  disappeared  indeep  water,  its 
wake  was  ™,ble  for  some  time.     There  were  no  in 
d.cat.ons  of  paddles  seen.     Some  other  persons  wh„ 
aaw  ,t,  compared  the  creature  to  a  long  sWng  of  fish- 
.ng-net  buoys  movin,  rapidly  about,  ^n  the  course 
of  the  summer,  the  fishermen  on  the  eastern  shore  of 
Pnnce  Edward's  Island,  in   the  Gulf  of  St.  Law- 
rence had  been  ^rified  by  this  sea  monster,  and  the 
year  before,  OctSfer,  1844,  a  similar  creature  swim 
»Wly  past  the  pier  at  Arisaig,  near  the  eL'nd 
of  Nova  Scofa,  and,  there  being  only  a  slight  breeze 
•t  the  time  was  attentively  observed  by  Mr.  Barry 

withm  120  feet  of  it,  and.  estimated' its  length  at 
amy  feet,  and  .he  thickness  of  its  body  at  thref  Lt 
It  had  humps  on  the  back,  which  seemed  too.  small 
and  close  together  to  be  bends  of  the  bridy 

The  body  appeared  also  to  move  in  lom  undulation, 
mclud,ug  many  of  the  «nalW  humps^    uZZ^ 
quence  of  th.s  motion,  the  head«nd  tail  were  rme- 
t.n.es  both  out  of  sight,  and  sometimes  both  Zve 


/■ 

i 

^^H 



■   / 

V. 

J- 

«> 

- 

» 

,-.        ■■■..-- 

■■     ^       '     .,fi(.j'*.»«.        ■   , 

-4_ 

. 

f 

4P 

.".      .      - 

^-^^ 


134 


Ir    ^, /■- 


NORWEGIAN  SEA  SERPENT.  _  [Chap.  VHI. 
The  head,  a,  was  rounded  and  obtuse  in  front,  and 


Drawing  from  memory  of  a  "sea  serpent  seen  at  Arisaig,  ^ova  ScOtia. 

Oct.  1844.  • 

waa  nevei^  elevated  more  than  a  foot  above  the  sur- 
face. The  tail  was  pointed,  appearing  like  half  of  a 
mackerel's  tail.  The  colour  of  the  part  seen  was 
black. 

It  wfl^  suggested  by  Mr.  Dawson  that  a  swell  in 
the  sea  might  give  the  deceptive  appearance  of  an 
undulating  movement,  as  it  is  well  known  « that  a 
stick^held  horizontaUy  atthe  surface  of  water  when 
there  is  a  ripple  seems  to  have  an  uneven  outline." 
But  Mr.  Barry  re|liea  that  he  observed  the  animal 
very  attentively,  laving  read  accounts  of  the  sea 
serpent,  and  feels  confident  that  the  undulations  were 
not  those  oL|H|''water. 

This  r^^pearance  of  the  monster,  commonly  called 
the  sea  wrpent,  was  not  confined  to  the  Gulf  of  St 
Lawr^ce ;  for,  two  months  after  I  left  Boston,  a 
Icttej  from  one  Captain  Lawson  went  the  round  of 
the  American  papers,  <]ated  Febfuary,  1846,  giving 
a  description  of  a  marine  creature  seen  by  him  from 
his  schooner,  when  off  the  coast  of  Virginia,  between 
Capes  Henry  and   Charles  -  body  about  100  foet 
long,  with  />oi«/«/  projections  (query,  dorsal  fins?)  on 
the  back;  head  small  in  proportion  to  its  length. 

Precisely  in  the  same  years,  in  July  1845.  and 
August  1846,  contemporaneous,  and  evidently  in- 
deiHjndent  accounts  were  collected  in  Norway,  and 


-TS''^''  fl5»'^iff1i"!"^V»'" 


li!|pr»  ,«' 


.Chap.  VIIL]      NORWEGIAN  SE^  SERPENT.  135 

published  in  their  papers,  of  a  marine  animal,  of  «  a 
rare  and  singular  kind,"  seen  by  fishermen  and 
others,  the  evidence  being  taken  down  by  clergymen, 
surgeons,  and  lawyers,  whose  names  are  given,  and 
some  of  whom  declared  that  they  can  now  no  longer 
doubt  that  there  lives  in  their  seas  some  monster, 
which  has  given  rise  to  the  tales  published  by  Pon- 
toppidan,  Bishop  of  Bergen,  in  his  Natural  History 
of  Norway  (1752),  who  gave  an  engraving,  which 
the  hvmg  witnesses  declare  to  be  very  like  what  thc«y 
saw.  "^ 


Fig  2. 


Pontoppidan'8  figur;  of  the  Norwegian*  sea  serpent,  published  175«. 


These  appearances  were  witnessed  in  1845,  near 
Christians^ind,  and  at  Molde,  and^  in  the  parish  of 
.«6und,  the  animal   entering   fiords   in  hot  weather; 
.    when  the  sea  was  calm.     The  length  of  the  creature 
was  from  sixty  t%  one  hundred  feet ;  colour   dark, 
body  smooth,  and,  in  thickness, ^ikc  that  of  a  stout 
man ;  swimming  swiftly  with  serpentine  niovemont, 
both   horizontally    and   .up   and    down,    raising   its 
blunted  head  occasionally  above  the  water;  its  eyes 
bright,  but  these  not  perceived  by  some  witnesses; 
Its  undulating  course  like  that  of  an  eel;  its  Iwdy 
lay  on  the  sea  like  a  number  of  "largo  kegs,"  the 
water  much  agitated  by  its  rapid  movements,  and 
the  waves  broke  on  the  shore  as  when  a  steam-boat 
18  passing.     From  the  back  of  the  head  a  mane  like 


%    \ 


".!B-'<!f?t^rrg:^ 


{y- 1 


■^tx. 


130  -  -    NORWEGIAN   SEA   SERPENT.       [C^ap.  VIII. 

that  Of  a  horse  commenced,  which  waved  backwards 
and  forwards  m  the  water.  Archdeacon  Deinboll 
says,  that  "the  eye-witnesses,  whose  testimony  he 
collected,  were  not  so  seized  with  fear  as  to  impair 
'  their  powers  of  observation;  and  one  of  them,  when 
withm  musket  shot,  had  fired  at  the  monster,  and 
18  certain  the  shots  hit  him  in  the  head,  after  which 
he  dived,  but  came  up  again  immediately." 

In  reading  over  these  recent  statements,  drawn  up 
by  observers  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  it  is  hnpoL 
«ible  not  to  be  struck  with  their  numerous  pointe  of 
agreement,  both  with  each  other  and  with  those  re- 

Tr!^tol       u"""  ^g^^<^^"  l>«tween  the  years  1815 
and  1825,  when  the  se*  serpent  rejieatedly  visited 
the  coast  of  North  Amerioa.     There  is  even  a  coinci- 
dence in  most  of  the  contradictions  of  those  who  have 
attempted  to  describe  what  they  saw  of  the  colour, 
form,  and  motion  of  the  animal.     At  each  of  these 
periods  the  creature  was  seen  by  some  persons  who 
were  on  the  shore,  and  who  could  take  a  leisurely 
survey  of  it,  without  their  imaginations  being  dis- 
turbed  by  apprehensions  of  personal  danger      On 
the  other  hand  the  consternation  of  the  fishermen  in 
Norway    the  Hebrides,  an*  America,  who  have  en- 
countered this  monster,  ig  such,  that  we  are  entitled  to 
ask  the  question  -  Is  it  possible  they  can  have  seen 
nothing  more  than  an  ordinary  whale  or  shark,  «r  a 
shoal  of  porpoises,  or  some  other  known  cetacean  or 

So  great  a  sensation  was  created  by  the  aijpoar- 
ance  of  a  huge  animal,  in  August,  1817,  and  for 
several  successive  years  in  the  harbour  of  Gloucester 


•  'V  "nKff,-'^!! 


n 


OkAP.  VIII]      AMERICAN  DESCRIPTIONS.  I37 

Massachusetts,  near  Cape  Ann>that  the  Linna^an 
Society  of  Boston  appointed  a  committee  to  collect 
evidence  on  the  subject.     I  am  well  acquainted  wi^i 
two  of  the  three  gentlemen,  Dr.  Bigelow  and  Mr.  F. 
C.  Gray,  who  drew  up  the  report,  which  gives  in  de- 
tail  the  depositions  of  numerous  witnesses  who  saw 
the  creature  on  shore  or  at  sea,  some- of  them  from  a 
distance  of  only  ten  yards.  «  The  monster/'  they  say, 
was  frorp  eighty  to  ninety  feet  long,  his  head  usu- 
^  ally  carried  about  two  feet  above  water;  of  a  dark 
.«  brown  coiour;  the  body  with  thirty  or  more  pro-" 
K     uberances,  compared  by  some  to  four-gallon  kegs, 
by  others  to  a  string  of  buoys,  and  called  by  s^eral 
persons  bunches   on  the  back;  motion  very  rapid, 
faster  than  those  of  a  whale,  swimming  a  mile  in 
three  minutes,  and  Bometiraes  more,  leaving  a  wake 
behmd  h,m;  chasing  mackerel,  herrings,  and  other 
iish,  which  were  seen  jumping  out  of  the  water  fifty 
at  a  time  a^  he  approached.     He  only  came  to  the 
surface  of  the  sea  in  calm  and  bright  weather.     A 
Bkilful  gunner  fired  at  him  from  a  boat,  and,  having 
taken  good  aim,  felt  sure  he  mu^  have  hit  him  on 
the  head;    the  creature  turned  towards  him,  then 
dived  under  the  boat,  and  re-appeared  a  hundred  yards 
on  the  other  side. 

Just  as  they  Were  concluding  their  report,  an  un- 
lucky accident  raised  a  laugh  at  the  expense  of  the 
Lmnacan  Committee,  and  enabled  the  incredulous 
o  turn  the  whole  matter  into  ridicule.  It  happened 
that  a  common  New  England  species  of  land  snake 
((Mr  constrictor),  full  grown,  and  about  three 
teet  long,  yrhioh  must  haye  been  swept  out  to  sea. 


L 


V" 


\ 


^  1        '-f        "t^    ja-  ^-nj  Q  !«■ 


1    f 


m ' 


i! 


^^®  AMERICAN  DESCRIPTIONS.      £Chap.  VIII. - 

jP  was  cast  ashore,  and  brought  to  the  Committee.     It  ^ 

Aad  a  ^enes  of  humps  on  its  back,  caused  by  the  in- 
dividual happening  to  have  a  diseased  spine— a  fact 
.  which  can  no  longer  ,be  disputed,  for  I  have  seen  the 
Identical  flpeoimen,  which  is  still  preserved  in  spirit^ 
in  the  Museum  of  Newhaven.     As  many  of  the  ' 
deponents  declared  this  snake  to  be  an  exact  minia- 
ture of  the  great  monster,  the  Committee  concluded 
that  It  migbt  be  its  young,  and,  giving  a  figure  of 
It,  conferred  upon  it  the  high-sounding  appellatioim 
ot  ifcohophys  Atlanticus,   the  generic  name  being 
■    derived   from  the  Greek   <rxoAiif,  scholios,  flexible, 
and  o^if,  ophis,  snake. 

In  addition  to  these  published  statements.  Colonel 
I'erkins,  of  Boston,  had  the  kindness  to  lay  before 
|Je  his  notes,  mrffle  in  Jul^,  1817,  when  he  saw  the 
animal     ^Q  counted  fourteen  projections,  six  feet 
apart,  on  the  back,  which  he  imagined  to  be  vertical 
,  flexures  of  the  body  when  in  motion ;  but  he  also  saw 
«?e  body  bent  horizontally  into  the  figure  of  the  letter 
b.   It  was  of  a  chocolate  brown  colour,  the  head  flat, 
and  af)out  a  foot'across.  A  friend  of  his  tobk  a  pencil 
sketch  of  it,  which  was  found  to  resemble  Pontoppidan's 
figure.*  RespecUng  the  length,  Mr.  Mansfield,  a  friend 
of  the  Colonel,  was  driving  a  one-horse  vehicle  oh  a 
road  skirting  Gloucester  Bay,  i\long  the  edge  of  a  cliff, 
my  or  sixty  feet  ift  perpendicular  height,  ^hen  he  saw    * 
the  seii  serpent  at  the  base  of  the  cliff  on  the  white 
beach;  wliere  there  was  not  more  than  six  or  seven 
feet  wateiv^nd,  giving  the  reins  to  hir  wife,  looked 

*  See  "  SilHmBn'8  Journal,"  vol.  ij.  p.  I/JQ. 


^^mm- m" -imi^Mf^ 


« '  "t  7"  ->«;''5  *sr  T*<^ 


:hap,  VIII.  ^ 


Chap.  VIII.]      AMERICAN  DESCHIBTIONS.  139 

down  on  the  creature^  and  made  up  his  mind  that  it 
WH8  ninety  feet  long.  He  then  took  his  wife  to  the 
spot,  wd  asked  her  to  feuess  its  length,  and  she  said 
It  was  as  long  as  the  wharf  behind  their  house,  and 
this  measured  about  100  feet. .  While  they  were 
lookmg  down  on  it,  the  creaiure  appeared  to  be 
farmed,  and  started  off.     I  asked  another  Bostonian, 

,  Mr.  Cabot,  who  saw  the  monster  in  1818,  .whether 
It  might  not  have  been  a  shoal  bf  porpoises  following 
each  other  in  a  Une,  at  the  distance  of  one  of  two 
yards,  and  tumbling  over  so  ad  to  resemble  a  string 
of.  floating  barrels  in  motion.  He  said  that  after 
this  explanation  had  been  suggested  to  him,  he  was 
one  of  thirty  persons  who  i^n  alopg  the  b^afch  at 
JVahant,  near  Boston,  when  the  sea  sferpent  was 
awimming  veryjuear  tl^e  shore.  They  were  all  con- 
vmced  ^that  it  was  one  animal,  and  they  saw  it  J^se 

.  Its  4iead  out  of  the' water.  :H^  ^dded  tL  there  were 
at  that  time  two  sea  seirperits  fishing  in  the  Bay  at 
once.  •'        , 

Among  many*  American  narratives  of  this  pheno- 
nienoti  whicl?  have  been  communicated  t^m?,  I  shall 
aelect  one  given. me   by  my  friend   Mr.  William 
M'llvaine  of  Philadelphia,  because  it  seems  to  attest 
the  feet  of  the  creature  having  wandered  as  far  souUi 
M   Cape    Hattems,    in.  North   Caroliria;  lat.    ^5°. 
^*  Captain  Joh;i8on,  of  N«w  Jersey,  was  sailiiig,  in  the 
year  18^6,  from  the  WesKLndies,  ou  the  iiner  edge 
of  tlie  gulf  stream,  in  a  deeply  Udof  ^rig,  when  they 
were  becalmed,  aiid'  the  crew  andlpasiengem  awe- 
struck  by  thfTTudden  apparition  of  a^tjreature  having 
g  oyhndrical  body  of  great  length,  and  which  lifted 


r^i 


^f^SBm-^mmmmm^ 


I . 


\ 


1*0  CONJECTURES  A3  ^^ 


[OBip.  vnr. 

«p  its'head  eight  feet  above  the  «,ter.    After  gating 

ViZ"'  tr""'  ""T""  "  ^"«="»*  ""ting  largt 
»ndulat,om  like  a  snake."    The  stoiy  had  been  %> 

much  d,eoredited  that  the  captain  would  oni; Tlate 
It  to  mtimate  friencjs. 

e.lwT.'^.r"""'^''™'^  Varvellous  tale  was 
Colonel  Perkins  went  to-  Washington  twenty  years 

wl  onf  r;?,*'''  r  "^p*""-  •«'  ---"^  t^^t  he, 

wLTf  T  f  ,'"'^»'^''"''t«  iodividuals  who  saw  it 
hmself.-  Iconfess  that  when  I  left  America  in  1846, 
I  was  ma  sfll  mortHmfortunate  predicament;  for  I 

N  'tThat'l         ""  '''^^•"*  ""*'"""*  •■"■"«  -"  i* 
'  now     >,  K .  7f  ""'«'"^''  "■«  ""'"'ern  seas  to  be 

thl  h  ^^  •  «'^''"*'"  "?'•'<"''"•  <•<•'  'his  hypo! 

^in  K  Ki  ™^'  """'*'*  '^  ■»«  »^'>e  highest  degree 
.^probable,  ^e.ng  that,  in  the  present  ftate  ofT 
globe,  there  i6  no  great  development  bf  reptile  life  in 
temperate  or  polar  regions,  whether  in  the  northern 
"^southern  hem,sphe,«.  When  we  enter  high  lati- 
tudes,  such  as  those  in  which  the  creature  Lied  a 
sea  serpent  most  frequently  «,cu™,  we  find  even  the 
smaller  reptihans,  such  as  frogs  and  newts,  to  grow     ' 

TtCI^TT''  ""''  •'"'^"  "^  "°  «P«»entarives 
nor  „f  ,K  K 1  '  I-  *"'"  ''"'«''™''ke,  nor  of  tortoises, 
nor  of  the  batmchian  or  lizard  tribes. 

In  like  manner,  in  the  geologicai  periods,  imme- 
diately antecedent  to  that  when  the  present  mollus- 
cous- fauna  came  into  eiistenoc,  there  was  a  similar 
absence  of  large  reptiles,  although  there  were  then, 
«.  now,  in  colder  latitudes,  many  huge  sharks,  seals 


.   ;f  , 


•t-i-fy  >'^rmp™--f!5py5iW"i''f,"^  "?'^«W?'i1i 


141 


f/> 


Chap.  VIII.]         NATURE  OP  ANIMAL. 

m^wals,  and  whales.     If,  however,  the  c^ture  ob- 

proye  to  be  some  unknown  species  of  any  one  of 
these  hst^mentioned  families  of  vertebrata,  I  see  no 
mpropnety  m  its  retaining  the  English  name  of  sea 
s  rpent  jnst  as  one  of  the  seals  is  now  caUed  a  Z 
elephant,  and  a  small  fish  of  the  Mediterranean,  a  Z 
horse;  whUe  other  marine  animals  are  nZed  s"a 
«ice  and  sea  urchins,  although  they  have  only  a  fan- 
ciful  resemblance  to  hedgehogs  or  mice.  .     /      '"' 

undrV!""''*'-"'  ''»™  ^-^-^d  tW,  if  it  were  an 
undescnbeJ  spec.es,  some  of  its  bones  must,  ere  this. 
We  been  washed  ash6re;  but  I  questio,  whethe 

IZ^  to  th.s  argument  from  negative  evidence ;  and 
I^Wm  from  good  zoologists  that  there  .,.  whales  so 

21.^ X  J"""  ^'"'  '''''  "'»««=  Sil'W'l  de- 

The,^  i    ?'"     '  ■»''''"«  of 'he  seventeenth  eentu^. 

cJled  Delp,.,„„,k,na.  micropteru.,  of  which  only 
three  specimens  have  ever  been  ^et  with.     One  of 

.of  Gotland,  and  the  other  two  st«rtded  on  the  shore 
of  Belgium  and  France,  and  identified  with  tl«,  British 
species  by  Dr.  Melville.      •  -  '"""Mn 

th,  n  ^"ll*"^' '"'"'°''"'  "'"''*  """^  "y  '^"'™  from  ^ 
the  Umted  States,  I  have  been  led  to  entertain  «-  ^ 
pectmg  tl«,  J,sUAct  and  independent  existence  of  . 
he  sea  serpent,  arise  from  .  strong  suspicion  that  it 
s  a  known  spco«,s  of  sea  animal  which  ha.  acitmlly 
b«en  oast  ashore  in  tha  Orkneys,  and  that  some  o7it. 


jM'I 


\ 


<        142 


SEA   MONSTER   AT   STRON8A.      [Chap.  VIII. 


1  i 


bones,  are  now  preserved  in  our  museums,  showing  it 
to  be  of  the  squaline  family,  and  no  stranger  to  some 
of  the  zoologists  whom  it  haJ  perplexed,  nor  to  many 
of  the  seafaring  people  whom  it  has  frightened.     In 
the  summer  of  the  year  1808,  the  fishermen  of  the 
Hebrides  were  terrified  by  a  monstor  of  huge  size 
and  unusual  app^rance,  which  created  a  great  sensa- 
tion in  Scotknd.     Three  or  four  months  after  this 
apparition,  the  body  of  all.  enormous  sea-monster  was 
washed   as^e   (Sept.  1808)   on  the  outer  reefs  at 
Rothesholm  Head  in  Stronsa,  one  of  t^  Orkneys, 
where  it  Was  first  observed  while  still  entire,  and  its 
length  measured  hf  two  persons  ;  after  which,  when 
somewhat  decayed,  it  was  swept  in  by  another  storm, 
and  stranded  on  the  beach,  and  there  examined  by 
others.      Mr.  NeiU,  ^well    known   as   a  naturalist, 
who  had   been   on,  a   visit    to    Stronsa   the  same 
year,   but  had  left  before   this   occurrence,  imme- 
diately corresponded  with  friends  on  the  spot,  among 
others  with   Mr.  Laing,  the   historian,  and  with  a 
lawyer  and   physician,  who   coUected   evidence  for 
him.     Their  affidavits,  taken  in  1808,  respecting  the 
monster,  were  published  in  the  Transactions  of  the 
Wernerian  Society,  of  which  Mr.Neill  was  secretary, 
and  were  accompanied  by  a  drawinjr  of  the  skeleton, 
obviously  ideal  and  very  incorrect,  with  six  legs  and 
a  long  tail  cur\4ng  several  times  vertically.     The 
man  who  sketched  it  reached  the  spot  too  late,  and 
when  scarcely  any  part  of  the  animal  remained  en- 
tire.,and  the  outline  is  admitted  to  have  been  taken 
by  him  and  altered  from  a  figure  chalked  out  upon 
a  table  by  another  man  who  had  seen  it,  while  one 


-y^^ 


ji   If    ^"=;tf¥ 


Chap.  VIII.]     SEA  M0N8TEE  AT   8TRONSA.  I43 

witness  denied  its  resemblance  to  what  he  had  seen 
But  a  carpenter,  whose  veracitj,  I  am  informed  by 
Mr.  NeiU  (in  a  letter  dated  1848),  may  be  trusted, 
had  measured  the  carcass  when  stUl  whole,  with  his 
foot-rule,  and  found  it  to  be  fifty-five  feet  long,  while 
a  person  who  also  measured  it  when  entire,  said  it 
was  mne  fathoms  long.     The  bristles  of  the  mane, 
each  fourteen  inches  in  length,    and  described   as 
havmg  been  luminous  in  the  dark,  were  no  doubt 
portions  of  a  dorsal  fin  in  a  state  of  decomposition. 
One  said  that  this  mane  extended  from  the  shoulders 
to  within  nwo -feet  and  a  half  of  the  tail,  another 
that  It  reached  to  the  taU ;  a  variance  which  may 
entitle  us  to  call  in  question  the  aUeged  continuity 
of  the  mane  down  the  whole  back.   So  strong  was  the 
propensity  in  Scotland^o^filie^e  that  the  Stronsa 
animal  was  the  sea  serpent  of  the  Norwegians,  that 
Mr.^eiU  himself,  after  drawing  up  for  the  Wernerian 
fcK)ciety  his  description  of.  it  from  the  different  ac- 
counts communicated  to   him,   called  it  Halsydrus 
JPontoppidani. 

Parts  of  the  cranium,  scapular  arch,  fin,  and  ver- 
tebral column,  were  sent  to  Dr.  Barclay  of  Edin- 
burgh,  whq  had  at  that  time  the  finest  museum  of 
comparative  anatomy  north  of  the  Tweed,  and^  he 
conceived  them  to  belong  to  a  new  and  entirely  un- 
known monster. 

If  the  imngination  of  good  zoologists  could  be  so 
pre-occupied  as  to  cause  them  at  once  to  jump  to  the 
conclusion  that  thd  Stronsa  animal  and  the  ^Nor- 
wegian sea  serpent  were  one  and  the  same,  we 
cannot  be  siirpriaed  that  the  public  in  general  placed 


\ 


*  I; 


Mr 


144      .SIR  EVERAED  home's  opinion;     [Chap.  VHL 

the  most  Implicit  faith  in  that  idea.  That  they  did 
so,  is  proved  by  a  passage  recently  published  in 
Seattle's  Life  of  Campbell,  where  the  poet  writes 
thus,  m  a  letter  dated  Feb.  13th,  180»:  —     n 

"  Of  real  life  let  me  see  what  I  have  heard  for  the 
last  fortnight :  — first,  a   snake  — my   friend    Tel- 
ford received  a  drawing  of  it— has  been  found  thrown 
on  the  Orkney  Isles;  a  sea  snake  with  a  mane  Hke  a 
horse,  four  feet  thick,  and  fifty-five  feet  long.      This 
IS  serio^usly  true.  'Ulalcolm  Laing,  the  historian,  saw 
it,  and  sent  a  drawing  of  it  to  my  friend."* 
V,  Now  here  we  see  the  great  inaccuracy  of  what  may 
be   styled  contemporaneous   testimony  of  a  highly 
educated  man,  who  had  no  motive  or  disposition  to 
misrepresent  facts.      From   the   Wernerian    Trans- 
actions And  Mr.  Weill's  letter,  I  learn  distinctly  that 
Malcolm  Laing  never  went  to  the  shore  of  Stronsa 
to  see  the  monster. 

Fortunately,    several   of  the  vertebra  were   for- 
warded, in  1809,  to  Sir  Everard  Home,  in  London, 
who  at   once   pronounced   them   to   belong   to   the 
Sgualus  maximus,  or  common  basking  shark.  Figures 
of  other  portions  sent  to  Edinburgh  to  Dr.  Barclay, 
were  also  published  by  him  in  the  Wernerian  Trans- 
actions, and  agree  very  well  with  Home's  decision, 
although  it  is  clear,  from  Barclay's  memoir,  that  he 
was  very  angry  with  the  English  anatomist  for  set- 
ting  him  right,  and  declaring  it  to  be  a  shark.     It 
was  indeed  very  difficult  to  believe  on  any  but  the 
most  convincing  evidence  that  a  carcass  which  was 


Campbell's  Life,  vol.  ii.  p.  169,  170. 


■^*  -'^wawsa 


y^h-f-'  V*  j^     ?>i^i  ^■^^^i^Spi^iw*'^    i^V/i'"*  -J"   T^V 


:hap.  VML 

they  did 
lished  in 
et  writes 

d  for  the 
;nd  Tel- 
i  thrown 
ne  like  a 
^.  This 
rian,  saw 


'hat  may 
a  highly 
sition  to 
Trans- 
ctly  that 
Stronsa 

ere  for- 
London, 

to  the 
Figures 
Barclay, 

Trans- 
lecision, 
that  he 
for  set- 
rk.  It 
but  the 
ich  was 


.  <^'-  Vni]    SEA  SERPENT  or  HEBBIDE8.  US 

fi%-five  feet  long  could  be  refomhl.  t„ 

largest  known  inlyid  J  of^ttrt        *  "P^"'"''  *« 

.    cape  from  Ho^^^^iJlJZ  Tt  ""  "- 
8tiU  in  the  College  ofT  '  .    ™'**'*    "« 

*^»..uiteS&L'oX«it;^4^„-: 

*%««/«*  wa:w,w«*    that  Mr   Ov^o^   •  -f,.         • 

ifilled  m.Stromness  Harbour  in  isnd     t    7 
there ;  yet  it  was  agreed  bHlI  with  wh      T  ^"  ^^ 
in   1808,  that  thp  ^^T      ^       •         ^^"""^  ^^  ^P^ke 

but  the  Be.  Donald  U^ZyZinLt^l 
Hebrides,  was  requested  tn  Hra,  "® 

whn     '  !     ""^^'^y  ^'«°  questioned  by  persons 

who  were  undpr  tho  fi,ii  •  ^  "j  persons 

pJt.T^A  V         "'*  ''"™*''  '""•e  identical  .vith 
Pontopp,dan^  eea  eerpent      Maclean  info™,". 


VOL.  T. 


*  Wern.  Trans,  vol.  i.  p.  444. 


f' 


■M 


t 


{■■-' 


1: 


.  I  ' 
I'  f. 


;  .  .  .^.^.■ 


146 


SEA  SERPENT  OF  HEBRIDES.    [Chap.  VIII. 


huge  creature  in  question,  which  looked  at  a^i6H~ 
tance  like  a  small  rock  in  the  sea,  gave  chase  to  his 
boat,  and  he  saw  it  first  from  the  boat,  and  after- 
wards from,  the  land. 

Its  head  was  broad,  of  a  form  somewhat  oval ;  its 
neck, rather  smaller..  It  moved  by  undulations  up 
and  down.  When  the  head  was  above  water,  its 
motion  was  not  so  quick ;  when  most  elevated,  it 
appeared  to  take  a  view  of  distant  objects.  It  di- 
rected its  "  monstrous  head,"  which  still  continued 
above  water,  towards  the  boat,  and  then  plunged 
violently  under  water  in  pursuit  of  them.  After- 
watds,  when  he  saw  it  from  the  shore,  "  it  moved  off 
with  its  bead  above  water  for  about  half  a  mile  before 
he  lost  sight  of  it.  Its  length  heijelieved  to  be  friom 
seventy  to  eighty  feet."  "  About  the  same  time  the 
crews  6f  thirteen  fishing  Jbpats,  off  the  island  of 
CVnna,  were  terrified  by  this  monster ;  and  the  cr6w 
of  one  boat  saw  it  coming"  towards  them,  between 
Rum^nd»Canna,  with  i^^tflpl'g^  above  water."* 

Mr/ Maclean  adds,  evilipofea  answer  to  a  ques- 
tion put  by  his  correspondent,  tl^^  saw  nothing  of 
the  mane ;  and  adds,  "when  neare^4;Q  me  it  did  not 
raise  its  head  wholly  above  water,  so  that  the  neck 
being  under  water,  I  coiild  jierceive  no  shining  fila- 
ments thereon,  if  it  had  any,"  And  he  also  observes: 
"It  hftd  no  fin  that  I  could  perceive,  and  seemed  to 
me  to  move  prOgreseitely,  by  undulations  up  anii 
"down,"  Most  of  my  readers  are  probably  satisfied  by 
this  time,  that  if  nothing  had  come  down  to  us  but 

'   .         '    ^. W<M«f T^iBdinbuf^h,  vol.  i.  p. 444. 


,..'.■  ! Ill'    ...  I,       /  ,  /'  :■■     ;'/    ' 


.•/*•,- 


•^ 


«  '  €^ 


^^  Vin.l  BASKING  SHARK. 


we  should  j  rf  t  h  7,"^  '"»"<''<'  '"  Orkney, 
were  »7a„d  L"!"'  ""  ™'^  """  •«•*  »f  ""em 
the  «fea  snake  oPotr  7"**^'  ""■  ""  ""■»  «"" 

^  delueio^mt  f  f  "^ '^r"''"-  How  much 
sorvatii^ft^b^r,  ^o™  "-lulled  by  the  .re- 
eume  th^^^  ^"'''  *^  "'^  "ot  then  ^re- 
how  a.^  #^  ?""  """  -^^o  ^ho^ks  ^f  so, 

.  Maclean's  account  of  a  crealnr-      k- u  "1->'*bat 
bead  above  the  water  and       wJdis:^*  oh™":""  '*'    ■ 
opposed  to  the  idea  of  its  h^lnl     f   ^?      ■'*''"'  *•" 
:i  of.cartiIagi„„„s  fishj  t'rf^t'?  K*» 'l-^  «<- 
«  the  sea  as  it  ewhns      T  !,       ,         *'  "«  bead  out 
.    descrfptions  comZnTy  ien  'bo^  Tf '  *^'  '"^ 
giansand  North  Americans  ;„M      ^^  *'""'''- 
the  appearance  of    ^^1^^"'''^'''^  "'"> 
by  a  shoal  of  porpoises.  ,t,ift:r'::»-'«'-ed 
v»»t  when  we  questio.i  the  evidence  mnr,    i     , 
»e  must  m-Ae  great  allowance  f.^r  th!  ;  '"''^' 

0  ohser,.e«  whSly  ign„„.„»  Z  ZZ  TtC 
Pl"0e,  «  must  dismiss  from  our  mind^  the  ' 

•shark  as  it  appeara  when  out  oTT  ^     '"•''^'  ■?* 
stuffed  in  a  museL     ThT  1 1  '  *'"°'''  '"•  ■»• 

the  outline  of  ThTkwl      *"^  "«•"•"  '"P"^"'^ 
io-me^ed.  but  swimS'^rrr^^^hwhen 

points  only  could  be  seen' aW  ta  erTf ^  "^      ' 


=1|-^ 


«5^ 


r 


?i  ■«^-*stI^__^^      ^^^J-^-  - 


s 


t 


U 


T 

i 


'^ 


I  .1 


J     i 


• 


9 


(n     M^r-" '  ■"  '  i*rs;WTN«*'*R-^ 


148 


BASKING   SHARK. 


[Chap.  VIII. 


first  dorsal  fin,  a ;  secondly,  the  second  dorsal  fin,  b  ; 
and,  thirdly,  the  uper  lobe  of  the  tail,  c.  , 
.    /    Fig.  3. 


Squalut  maximua.  Basking  Shark,  or  Hock  mar. 
i      a.   First  dorsal  fin ;  b.  Second  dorsal  fin  ;  c,  Caudal  fin. 

Dr.  Melville   informed   me  that   he   once   saw  a 
large  species  of  shark,  swimming  at  the  rato  of  ten 
miles  an  hour,  in  Torres  Strait,  off  Australia ;  and,* 
besides  the  lateral  flexures  of  the  tail,  which  are  the 
principal  propelling  power,  the  creature  described  as 
it  advanced  a  series  of  vertical  undulations,  not  by 
the  actual  bending  of  the  body  itself,  but  by  the 
whole  animal  first  rising  near  to  the   surface   and 
then  dipping  down  again,  8«hthat  the  dorsal  fin  and 
part  §f  the  back  were  occasionally  lifted  up  to  a  con- 
si^rablc  height.     Now  it  strikes  me,  that  if  a  very 
huge  shark  was -going  at  the* rate  of  twenty  miles  an 
hour,  as  stated  by  some  of  the  observers,  that  portion 
of  the  back  which  emerged  in  front  niight  easily  Ikj 
taken  for  tJie  head,  and  the  dorsal  fin  behind  it  for 
the  mane;  and  in  this  manner  we  may  exjdain  the 
throe  projecting  points,  a,  h,  c,  fig.  1.  p.  134.,  given  in 
Jfc    the  drawing,  sketched  fr(i|i  momorj^,  bf  Mr.  Ihirryof 
^^  jl<)va  Scotia.     The  smaller  undulations  seen  by  tht^ 


4 


|i  »\ ,  ;";'^''''^^>^^S^■^,^J%y 


/ 


Ce^P.Vmo   SEA  SNAKE  A  BASKING  shark:  I49 

»«me  person  intervening  between  the  tHi«#i|ger 

m  the  water  by  the  rapid  paaeage  through  it  of  «, 
bn\ky  a  body.  Indeed,  eAe  of  the  drawing,  whiet 
I  have  eeen  of  the  northern  ^a  snake,  agree  Jr- 

Sf7     ^K  '""  "'  ""=  P-J-"-^'  ^o""'^" 

m  sae  as  they  recede  from  the  dorsal  prominence. 

watnrT'n  .     '  °"""i<>»'=d  as  alone  visible  above 

bTdv    tit  ?h         •"/'"""•  P"'"""  "'  *'■<'  "''»''= 
~  ^^  ""«='"  """y  ""■"'oy  the  notion  of 

seZ  „n  T  "'""P""''  *"■  8^<»'  '-g">  i  -J  *e  as- 

were  pomted,  may  have  arisen  from  their  having  taken 
.more  accurate  look  at  the  shape  of  the  fins,  and  dt 
trngmshed  them  better  from  the  intervening  waves 
of  the  sea.  But,  according  to  this  view,  the  lafge  evT 

have  been  unagmary,  unless  in  cases  where  they  may 
We  really  been  looking  at  a  seal.  It  can  hardlv  he 
doubted  that  so,„e  good  marksmen,  both  in  S-  t 
and  New  England,  who  fired  at  the  animal    sc^^ 

>«et  that  the  wound  seems  never  to  have  nrodue,,! 
onous  injury,  Mough  in  „„„  ^  uZttoZ 

server,  til  !l        J  ,         "P'"'""  °^  "'«"  "f  »''"  "1^ 
"Ofver,  that  the  undulat.on,  were  coincident  with  th.. 

mp-d  movement,  of  the  creature,  ,grce,  ^M  w   h  on 
theory,  „,.,,,,  „,.  „  ^,,„  g,„.,„.^«  ,  «^''  our 

.econs  to  waves  of  the  „ea,     On  ,h.  „.hu  1  ;,  ,.. 


M    » 


^ 


"•\ 


V 


l\ 


I  * 


150  SEA  SNAK£  A  BASKING  SHARK.     [Chap.  VIII. 

several  of  the  protuberances  are  real,  consisting  of 
three  fins  and  a  part  of  the  back,  the  emergence  of 
these  parts  may  explain  what  other  witnesses  beheld. 
Dr.  Melville  has  suggested  to  me,  that  if  the  speed 
were  as  great  as  stated,  and  the  progressive  move- 
ment such  as  he  has  described*,  the  three  fins  would 
be   first   submerged,    and   then  re-emerge  in   such 
.rapid  succession,  that  the  image  of , one  set  would  be 
retained  on  the  retina  of  the  eye  after  another  set 
*had  become  visiWe,  and  they  might  bejjounted  over 
and  over  again,  and  multiplied  indefinitely.    Although 
I  think  this  explanation  unnecessary  in  most  cases, 
such  a  confusion  of  the  images  acems  very  possible, 
when  w<3   recollect   that   the   fins  would  be  always 
mingled  with  waves  of  the  sea,  which^are  said,  in  the 
Norwegian  accounts  of  1845,  to  have  been  so  great, 
that  they  broke  on  the  coast  in  calm  weather,  when 
the  serpent  swam  by,  as  if  a  steamer  at  full  speed 
was  passing  near  the  shore. 

T  conclude,  therefore,  that  the  sea  serpent  of  North 
America  and  the  Clerraan  Ocean  is  a  shark,  probably 
the  Squalus  niaximm,  a  species  whicli  seems,  from  the 
nieasurements  taken  in  Orkney  in  1808,  to  attain 
BometimcH,  when  old,  a  much  larger  size  than  had  ever 
boo;|^  previously  imagined.  It  may  be  objected  that 
this  opinion  is  directly  opposed  to  a  great  body  of 
evidence  which  has  been  accumulating  for  nearly 
a  century,  derived  partly  from  experienced  sea- 
faring men,  and  partly  from  observers  on  the  land, 
HotT^  of  jvhom  wore  of  the  educated  class.  I  answer 
that  most  of  them  caught  glimpses  only  of  the  crea- 

•  Ante,  p.  148. 


Ca.P.  yni.]    CAIT.  M'QUHAE'S  8^  SERPENT.       ^IS  1 

tZ  m"  '"  '^P''' "<"'°»  "-d  i"  i'«  own  element, 
four-fifths  o.-  more  of  the  bod^  being  submerged  •  and 
"hen  at  length,  the  whole  Xcas,  ff  a  monfter  mU 
ta^n  for  a  ,ea  *ak#waa  stmuded,  touched,  and  Z- 
eured    and  part,  „f  it  sent  to  the  ablest  anatomists 
and  •ioolog.sts  m   Scotland,   we  narrowly  esca,! 
haymg  tmnsnfitted  to  „^  without  fower^S 
Ufon  a  tale  as  ma^ellous  and  fabuLs  eonce^tg 
p    f  ".^'l  -ature,  as  was  ever  charged   againsT 
PpyopHan  by  the  most  ^optical  of  his  ^itic^ 

K„rf»r  "■"  """'^  ""  """''"•   •  letter  .ppeared  in  tha 

Mr.Owen'H  conjecture  lterr„^^  ?'"  ^^^^ 

before  I  hounl  it  I  hTn,  T  *  ''"'^  probable  j  but. 

•««nb/capilM'i  bldirr     r"^™'"^  that  the  creatun, 

Norwegians  «,d  ^ew  Emrlanderg    fr„.„  „k        . '  ^" 

of  ani,«r„„f        /•  ""P'-c'WJy  in  the  abienoe,  when  at  ftilJ  snoed 
«r  apparent  undulaUonm  or  dor«.|  prominence-.  ^ 

M   4.  


% 


?^:^. 


'Ifr-s 


IB'  «*- 


.  ^l'i 


%        f 


155 


BOSTON. 


[CHAi-.  IX. 


f  ". 


\ 


CHAP„IX.       '  '     '    ■ 

•  \ 

'  Bostmi.  —  No  Private  Lodgings.  —  Boarding-houses .  -  Hotels. 
-J  ^ects  of  the  Climate  on  Health.  —  Large  Foritmes.  — 
Style  of  Living.  ^  Slants.  —  Carriages.  —  Education  of 
Ladies.  —  Marriages.  —  Professional  Incomes.  —  Protection, 
ist  Doc^nes.  —  Peculiarities  of  Language.  -  Literary  Tuste». 
—  Cost  of  Living.'— Alarms  of  Fire. 


in 


Ab   we  intended  to   pass    ne«ft-jy   tAvd    months    «. 
Boston,   we    determinftd    to    look   out   for  private 
lodgings,  such  as  might  be  met  with  in  every  large 
town  in  England,  but  which  we  found  it  almost  im- 
possible to  procure  here.    It  does  not  answer  to  keep 
houses,  or  even  suites  t^  apartments  to  let  in  a  city 
where  house-rent  is  so  dear,  and  well-trained  servants 
80  difficult   to  hire,   even  at  high  wages.     In  this 
country,  moreover,  the  mass  of,  the  people  seem  to 
set  less  value  on  the  privilege  of  living  in  private 
than    we    English    do.      Not.  only   strangers    and 
bacholois,  but" whole   families,   reside   in  boarding- 
houses,    usually  kept   by  a  widow  who  has  known 
better  days,  and  is  a  good  manager,  and. can  teach 
and  discipline  servants. 

During  a  former  tour,  we  had  found  it  irksome  to 
submit  to  the  rules  of  a  boarding-house  for  any 
length  of  time ;  to  take  every  ;neal  at  a  publip  table, 
where  you  are  expected  to  play  the  agreeable  to 
com])anion8  often  uncongenial,  and  brought  together 


i- 


mf'im^'is 


I    r 


[CHAt.  IX. 


Chap,  ix.] 


HOTEL^. 


«#**.  —  Hoteh. 
e  Fortunes. — 
-  Education  of 
—  Protection- 
iterary  Tastes. 


months  in 
for  private 
every  large 
;  almost  im- 
iver  to  keep 
let  in  a  city 
led  servants 
9.  In  this 
)Ie  seem  to 

in  private 
-ngers    and 

boarding- 
has  known 

can  teach 

irksome  to 
e  for  any 
iblip  table, 
reeable  to 
It  together 


153 


rooras  .„  a„  hoeel.  which"  I  at  leo^h  s„"cceeded"i; 

House,  after  I  had  failed 


proouring  at  the  Tre.noat  „„u»e,  a„er  1  had  failed 
Whom  I  had  been  reoammeiided.     One  of  these  aft.r 

prayers  LhS"    I  p^lt  ^r*"  '■''"'^' " 

-^pra;r,.r;^/„:rlrd.^^-^-"'- 

A  iJostonian,   wHo  had   rpfi,..^^  i   e 

world,«marked  to  me,  •'  We  oUsSf  u  , 

|*emfe.i„h,aUh.„«h;ed;:Sst''^^^^^^^^^^ 

.«i..nt  HitieianjVhX^.'-'-  "^^ ^^ 
.would  not  .,.an>then»e,ve.  and  give  up  .::::^i.:t 


, 

.  ^#- 

• 

i 

"li 

■  /^ 

P    , 

h.. 


\  ■ 


.«.' 


/ 


'  Jf   .f^j-f' 


R 


« 


i 


:i 


|f  54       EFFECTS  OF  CLI 

ftelaxation.    ^*  Th 


••'  - .  * 


■t, 


!       J 


laliae  th^enjtimei 

(if** 

bincest^^h^to   wml*««ft^  of 

^vc§y-,|wenty.^r|li^,^^ft|ai^^^  in  the 

Urildei^esa;  but  w^p#^tia'^«i^g^^y  nerve 

i;hen*reniinded 


when  that  lieb^ssit 

bdw  much  more  cheerful,  plu^ip,  and  merry  the 

^      mg  negro'Children  lool^ed  in  the  South,4han  those 

j     ^;*f  New  England,  wh6^had   all  the  appearance   of 

''^'(ii^|laving  been   forced"  ii^Ttheir  education,  and  over- 

<*aramed  at  sdiool.       j£ 

I  suspect,  however,  th^^the  principal  cause  of  the 
different  aspect  of  the  Angp-S^xon  race  in  England 
and  America  is  the  cllmatS^  During  both  our  tours 
through  the  United  Statea^  my  wife  and  I  enjoyed 
^  Excellent  health,  and  were  delighted  with  the  clenr- 
-ness  pf  the  atnsosphere,  the  bright  sun,  and  the  great 
nu^iber  of  cloudless  days;  but  we  were  told  that,  if 
We  stAyed  a  second  year,  we  should  feel  less  vigorous. 
Many  who  have  bpen  bbrn  in  America,  of  families 
settled  there  for  several  generations,,  find  their  health 
irapraved  by  a  visit  to  England,  just  as  if  they  had 
returned  to  their  native  air;  and  it  may  require 
several  ceatur^ep  before  a  race  becomes  thoroughly 
acclimatised. 

species  of  indigenous 

merica,  those  of  the 

•eing  almpst  all  distinct* 

to  a  wide  diversit)^  of 

g  drier,  and  there  being 


Ik  H^^F 


The  great  dlffci^nco 
anlmalef  and  plants  in 
middle  and  southe 
from  the   Europea 
climate,  the  atmosp 


% 


^J*- 


"4^''?''^^^' 


CH,r.  IX.J   EjiFECTS  OF  CLJMAm  ON  HEALTH.       155  ' 

«  much  greate;  annual  range  of  the  thermometer  than    '' 

del" d,..„.T™'''^"°P'''''«  «•'»!■'?«»  "an  may:   - 

heln  «„T1     ""  '""  •""'*""''»  ■»<■  ''^-«'«'='  before      ^    ' 
he  can  entirely  accommodate  his  constitution  to  «„ch    • 

g  n::^tior:r"'="' ■""  "^^ore  the  sue::: «  •■ 

Physiofogical  peculiariE  ''      '  '"'''  ""'  "'»'"'''" 

Jealth  of  the  mhabitants  here  to  their  indoor  habits  > 

•     Iul7t°lf™"-    J^«  i' -  natural  It  Wy 
S  St       ""^  '"'^"8  "><'"'»«'ve,  to  the  Jver^ 
frosts  and  long^ntinued  snows  of  winter  and  tn  ,h 
;ntense  heat  of  the  summer's  sun.     IXih  '  !  - 

■«  usually  recognised  at  once  in  a  party  bv  a  m  '        - 

robust  look,  and  greater  clearness  »7ruddine^T;    " ' 

st:::";  *""  ■' "  -p^-g  "ow  distmSbL 

-«  generalindmJ^i^lt^rnrtitVnS' 

e.«e^^analogy  betw.n,  the  climates  ofVe  t.    ^ ; 

•no  number  of  persons  in  Boston  who  have  earned 

««.t  The  r'r  '"'•""'■^  '"««  fortunes  ":  J 
m^  the  .^"'^"'°"'  "  »■»"''  P-k.  which  is  by  Z 
means  the  o«ly  qu„tcr  frequented  by  rich  citi„„ 

quarts  in  I«„d«,,  ,„,d  the  average  value' of  which 

'  .  II  6    "     .      -_^-^  .,* 


<■ 


p^^-^ 

.T*^* 


'         f 


w 


\   \ 


^/    J        -  >  'i,"\-HB     *J^C"*  !'"(' 


I 


156  STYLE   OF   HVi:ffG.  [CkAP.  IX. 

in  the  market,  might  bear  a  comparison  with  those 
m  very  fashionable  parts  of  our  metropolis,  —  sums 
of  from  4000/.  to  20,000/.  sterling  having  been  paid 
tor  them.     The  .greater  part  of  these  buildings  are 
the  property  of  the  persons  who  reside  in  them ;  and 
they  are  fittecTup  very  elegantly,  and  often  expen- 
sively.    Entertamments   in  a  sumptuous   style  are 
not  rare;  but  the  small  numbei-  of  servants  in  com- 
parison  with  those  kept  in   England  by  persons  of 
correspondmg  income,  and  the  want  of  an  equipage, 
impart  to  their  mode  of  life  an  appearance  of  sim- 
plicity which  is  perhaps  more  the  result  of  necessity 
than  of  deference  to  a  republican  theory  of  equality. 
*or  to  keep  servants  here  for  mere  show,  would  not 
only  b6  thought  absurd,  but  would  be  a  great  sacri- 
fice of  comfort.     To  obtain  a  few  efficient  ones  at 
any  price,  ^d  to  put  up  with  many  inconveniences 
ratiier  thah  part  with  them,—  allowing  them  to  con- 
tinue m  service  after  marriage,  is  the  practice  of  not 
a  few  of  the  richest  people,  ^o  often  keep  no  more, 
.than  four  domestics  where  there  would  be  at  least 
nine  m  Lon^.     In  consequence  of  this  state   of 
things,  theftdies   are   more  independent  of  being 
waited  on  than  those  of  similar  fortune  in  England ; 
but  we  are  sometimes  amused  when  we  hear  them  • 
express  envy  of  the  superior  advantages  enjoyed  in 
Europe,  for  they  are  under  the  delusion  of  supposing 
that  large  establishments  give  no  trouble  in  « the  ' 
old  country."     There   are,  indded,  crowds   of  pooi^ 
emigrants  here,  especially  frofe    Ireland,  eager  for 
employment ;  but  for  tiie  most  paH  so  coarse,  igno- 
rant,  and  dirty  in  their  habits,  that  they  cannot  §km 


■^p  ■{  ^t  ;-  -^  viTT  ■*«  *  'f-^^^ 


"r^p"^  '■*«  '*tsr«**^i 


I  I 


CaAp.  IX] 


SERVANTS -CABKIiGES. 


157 


admittance  into  genteel  houses.  No  mistress  h.» 
ventures  to  interfere  with  the  dress  of  a  2^uZ^ 
«nd  g.rls  wa.t  at  table  „ith  braided  hair,  wl"h  U 
certainly  more  becoming  to  them  when  youZ  J 

aroinged  lock  ,  according  to  the  costume  approved  of 
by  Enghsh  disciplinarians.     When  raising '^^^d J 
at  their  work,  i„  sweeping  the  flooi^.  they  cover  tl 
head  with  a  handkerchief.  The  New  F„„l    ^^ 
are  generally  provident    f„;    h      ,       u^^*^  '""'"'« 

they  derive  fr',rtlet;;;htl    H      ''"'""^^''" 
have  a  reasonable  hopl  TfLT  ."■^'"'"'  '^'^ 

are  well  paid,  and  '14*  dotrfn ' tt  '^f""' 
number  of  pior  relations.  V""""  ''>'  ■> 

excdltt  1,^:1    ::7^--^  '-"y  «*»'''-.  where 
we^ressed    Xr^^rortht^r^^S""     ^ 

letting  down  the  glat  whh    ;  """*''  "'"""■* 
EnKland  frn.t  '  ^"""S  a  severe  New 

ingt"ury      '  "■■  "  """'  ''°™'  "'™'  "e  no  unmean- 


%*, 


1  .i 


■■-  * 


1 


EDUCATION  OP  LADIES.  [Chap.  IX. 

„  .     'W«nty  guineas)  for  an  annual  ticket  on  the  rail- 
way and  being  less  than  an  hour  at  a  time  on  the  road. 
1  he  usual  hours  of  breakfasting  and  dining  here  are 
much  ^rherthan  in  London ;  yet  evening  parties  in 
■,  "PlwW^ble  jociety  do  not  begin  till  nine, 
and  omrten  o'clock,  whicK  appears  a  senseless  imita- 
tion ot  foreign  manners,  and  calculated,  if  not  iii^nded 
to  draw  a  hne  between  those  wh«  can  afford  to  turn 
night  into  day,  and  those  who  cannot. 

In  some  houses  the  gentlemen  go  up  after  dinner 
with  the  ladies,  as  in  France,  to  the  drawing-ro% ; 
but  It  IS  more  comments  in  England,  to  stay  a  while 
and  talk  together,  fhere  is  very  little  drinking, 
and  I  scarcely  eyer^ard  any  conversation  in^hich 
th'fe  women  might^t  have  jiftd  with  propf - 
Bachelor  dinne^  are  more  frequent  than  in^.« 
highest  circles  in  London:  but  there  Ib  begin  nil 
to  he  a  change  Jn  this  respect,  and  certainly  thb 
Jadies.  are  well  able  to  play  their  i^t,  for  no  care  or 
ex|»^n^i8  spared  p  give  them,  not  only  every  female 
I\^raplfeh9ient,  biii  a  solid  education.  The  incomes 
H^e  by  Dime  men  bf  superior  scholarship  and  gene- 
ral knowledge,  ^^ho  devote  themselves  entirely  to  the 
I'lf '^S  of^oung  la(|ps,  and,  still  more,  the  station 
,^fieid  by  th^  te^ierr  in  ^ety^s-  uncharacteristic 
^  ot  Boston  h^'jleserring  ?m\^ind  imitation. 
^  Thy^fliilroe  ^1*  cultivated'  #omen  in  elevating 
an<l  r^g^he  fobe  of  society  and  the  national 
•^'"^'-iFy  •^vhere  be  rendered  more  effective  than 
where  .W  large  proportion  of  the  men  are  engaged  in 
niercanule  business,  and  belong  to  a  class  who  have 
tgo  tn.ly  been  said  "to  live  in  counting-houses  that 


.at^Mt-Ja      JcF 


^^sr 


•!»<V*J  'nr 


Chap.  IX.] 


MARRIAGES. 


*> 

* 


159 


'       tl  T^  ''"'P  ^"  P^'^«^«-"  Their  wives  and  daughters 
have  leisure  to  acquire  literary  and  scientific  l^Z 

attendinctn.L         !    ,       '™"»">S  «P  accounts, 

mint*  !f  ,1       7  '="S''"«1  ""-""onwealths  on  the 
mannert  of  the.r  descendants,  is  still  very  marked 

s— ull^d""""!  ''""'•  ^"^  "-'"-g'hrtt 
successfully  discountenanced,  although  they  are   in 

.The  facility  of  getting  on  in  the  world,  and  marrv- 

mo'raC^hr  "^  ''■'  ™''"'^'  ■"°^'  ^-"-blelThe 
,.  morals  of  the  community,  although  it  sometimes  leads 

able  that  the  aristocracy  of  f.,,.  "''™'"'- 

tion  should  create  b:ri  !&;:;"''•'''"- 
nought  without  violence  to^hrSlI  "u  Ve  J 
goc^  opportunities  of  knowing  tZ^^n^lZX 
thought  far  more  unreasonable  he«  than  in  Englld 

parties  being  without  fortune.  ^  °^  ""'  "'  ""^ 

.  J.'^l/T  "»'■'""  "'^i™!  men  in  Boston  make  I 
am  told,  about  9500  doUars  (2000/.  a  year)  arth:- 
early  c..er  i.  one  of  hanl  Striving  anZ^'a;",^^-- 


>l 


■/   ' 


^ 


.      leO  ^KOTECTIONIST  DOCTRINES.        [Chap.  IX 

/      The  incomes  made  by  the  fii'stkwyers  a^  muck 
more  considerable;  and  I  hear  that  when  a  leading 

practitioner  was  invited  to  transfer  his  business  from 
Boston  to  New  York,  because  he  might  be  employed 
there  bj  a  population  of  400,000  souls,  he  declined, 
saying  that  his  clients  were  drawn  from  a  population 
nearly  «qual  in  nutpbers  and  average  wealth,  al- 
though not  a  fourth  part  of  them  were  resident  in  the 
city  of  Boston.      V 

Bankruptcies  are  m^r  than  in  any  other  mercan- 
tile community  in  the  Union  of  equal  extent,  and, 
when  they  do  Occur,  largei'  dividends  are  paid  to  the 
creditor.     As  most  of  the  rich  prirtfte  citizens  Uve 
within  their  income,  so  the  State  is  frugal,  aud  al- 
though  Its  credit  stands  so  high  that  it  could  borrow 
largely,  it  has  contracted  very  little  debt,  it  beinff 
thought  advisable  to  leave,  the  execution  of  almost 
every  kind  of  public  work  to  private  enterprise  and 
capital. 

In  many  of  the  Southern  and  Western  States,  the 
commercial  policy  of  Massachusetts  was  represented 
to  me  as  eminently  selfish,  the  great  capitalists  wish- 
ing to  monopolise  the  manufacturipg  trade,  and  by 
a  high  tariff  to  exclude  foreign  capitalists,  so  as  to 
grow  rich  at  the  expense  of  other  parts  of  the  Union 
In  conversing  with  the  New  Englanders,  I  became 
satisfied  that,   in  spite  of  "the  writings  of  the  first 
pohtical  economists  in  Europe  and  America,  and  the 
opinion  of  Channing,  and  some  other  of  their  own 
distinguished   men  (not  excepting   Daniel  Webster 
himself  in  the  early  part  of  his  career),  they  have 
persuaded  themselves  that  the  doctrines  of  free  trade 


m.'' 


-li.i 


Ca.,.tt.]    fBCtaUfelTIES  OF  LAN8UA0E.  161 

Z'  ,  ^«  '^»«'l't7  with  which  all  people  comden 
-^ety_«c<»..<^.^theirspeou,ati^^^^^^^^ 

th.  ^.    e  :       '  ■"  *%  successively  embark  in 

the  manufacture,  whether  of  cotton,  iron,  or  oth^ 

.rhcles,  become  immediately  convert^to  p^tILZ!t 

i7"r.  -■  ?T  "^  P-ously'dSS  ' 

all  dZ  es  n  thr^     '^'"f  "^  *=«--"»P<«*t  pervading 

those  who  rise  m  the  world,  whether  in  political  lifr 

,or  by  suddenly  making  large  fortun^  in  tSel^thlv 

h-e  true  gentUity  of  ffeeling.  to  take  th^^LeS 

gWHi  society  easily  and  natumlly.     Their  powT  Z 

tW  .^^e.  ""' '"•^^^^  '"-"ble  in  station,  so  that 

'    By  un^Sri'T"  "'  '«'™^'»g  'heir  low  origin 

'       EnTrrv       P  "^  ""''  '■"""y  P™»«nciation. 

a„.e  I   ..     r°l  "*  '".*"  ■»"'  of  ">«''»g  oo  allow- 
ance for  the  shghteet  variations  in  laoguag!,  pronun 

twt  ^  .^  ,  "I''--    ^"   *''«  <>«™«>.s  or  French 

those  fcmiiiii.-  A  1-  wnereas  it  may  Be  one  of 

ion  h^^  r*^™''  "specting  which  every  na- 

rZ  f  ^S""*  '"-"fowe  ita  own  arbitrary  Lies  ^ 

Madal.^    'ti'*!:.:''''f  "  0-'  Monsieur,  Oui,       ' 


I 


'      >« 


•N  ^'^ 


in  France,  for  th^  sake  of  softening 


th( 


^^ 


•^ 


.  :> 


>-».. 


162,  PECULIARITIES  OF  LANGUAGE.    [Chap.  IX. 

* 

bald  and  abrupt  «  Yes  "  or  "  No,"  woUld  sound  to  &. 
Frenchman  or-Italian  more  polite;  and  iahe  Ameri- 
cans were  to  conform  to  the  present  English  model 
in' such  tfifles,  it  might  hapen  that  in  England  itself 
the  fashion  may  soon  change.  ^.Tlltre  are  also  maiiy 
,  genuine  old  classieal  phrases,  'which    have   grQwn 
obsolete  in  the  parent  country/ j||dwhi(;h  the  Ame- 
ricans retain,  and- ought  not  to -allow  themselves  to 
be  laughed  out  of.     |he  title  of  Madam  Ss^ov^- 
times  given  here,  ftnd  generally  in  Charleston  ($. 
Carolina),  and  in  the  Soutii,  to  a  mother  whose  son ' 
has  married,  and  the  daughter-ip-law  is  then  called 
Mrs.  '  By   this    means    they   avoid    the   inelegant 
phraseobgy  of  old  Mrs.  A-—-,  or  tbe  l^co^h,  Mrs-. 
A.  senior.      Mndam/in  short^verjr  commonly  serves 
as  the  equivalent  -of  dowager^  as  Used  idi;cEngli8JS 
titled  families.     There  are  also  some-  antique  pifvih-p 
cialisms  handed^  down  frbm  the  tinles  of  thelfirst 
settlers,  wliich   liiay  well    desorvfe   to  l^p^lbaL  lip,  " 
although    they    |iay   be    suLjects  *of    ^iv«riS| 

English  toiirisljSi^  intone  of  jShirlcy's  plays,^! 

just  before  tMKddlc  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
when  the  larg^  cinigratio»  tookplace  from  Old,  to 
New  Euglaod,  wc  find  the'  term,  «  I  guess,"  fq^  */ 1 
think,"  or  "  I  suppose,"  oconrring^ifreqqeijtly ;  and  jj 
we  look  farther  back,  it  is  mot  with  in  Vhe  **U^^»  t 
Tale  "  and  in  the  "  Monk  "  of  Chaucer  l^  ^\ 

-r— ,"  For  Httreh^^yhVeM  Z*-^ 

In  right  Piiqugh  for  xw^nj^  fdk,  I  guess,"  ^ 

And  in  Spenser's  "  }i^n^  Quoeno  "  —  '    ^    ' 

"  h  seepHJiTa  secoh^  Parwlise,  I  guesid."* 

^-..^•4^_,.. J*  r»  .  ••     • 


■^ 


w 


f 


i 


'V  . 


•4 


•  . 


,f 


n^ 


,       I        r 


I    ; 


I* 


» 


Chap.  IX.]     PECULIARITIES  OP  LANGUAGE.  163 

.     .        ^"  •  -^     '^      '■' 

'■  Among  the  roost  common  singulaFities  of  expre9\ 
Bion  are  the  following:  _ -J^should  admire  to  8e#- 
him"  for  "I  should  like  to  see  him;  "  "I.want  to 
kttbw  "  and  «  Do  tell,"  both  excliimationa  of  aurprise,  ' 
ans^aring  to  our  «  Dear  me;"     TheSe  last,  however, 
are  rarely  hfeard  in  society  above  the  middling^dass/ < 
Occasionally  I  was  aa  much  puzzled  as  if  I  was  read- 
mg  Tan^o'  Shanter,  as,  for  example,  *>Out  of, kilter  **• 
raea^s  "t)ut  of  order.."     The  word  "sick  "  is  used  in 
Ney  Englahd  in  the  same  ftcnae  as  it  was  in  the  time 
of  Shak8|)eare,  or  when  the  liturgy  of  the  Church  of 
England  was  composed.     The  word  «ill,"  which  in 
Grerft  Britain  means  "  not  well,"  signifies  in  America 
"very  ill.'"     They  often   speak   hefe  of  "a  lovely 
man,"  usihg  the  adjective  in  a  moral  sense  ;  and  say 
of  a  plain,-8hri veiled  old  woman,  that  she  is  "a|!ne 
<»nd. lovely  woman^'  meaning  that  her  character  and 
disposition  are  aipiable.     "Clever"  is -applied  to  |i  ■ 
good-natured  and  good-hearted  person  who  is  with- 
put  talentand  qijickne|a:     At  first  we  had  many  a 
good  laugh  w lien  we  disQowned  th^t  we  had  been  at 
cross  purjioees,  onj^niparing  notes  as  ^oour  opinions 
of  English  rind  iJSTericftn  friej.ds.     On  one  occasion 
I  admitted  that  Mm.  A.  might  be  "  a  finf^nd  Mfely 
WQman,"  but  it  could  only  be  said  of  her  111  candl6-    ' 

Inifie  litfcrary  circles' liere  wo  mocli  with  severjil 
writers  wljo  V^  Jfi^jxing  up  an  active  correspondence 

«,n  ^  •'  ^'tTl^H'  thW  Barrow,  in  |,i^  .er.non;;  u«e.  tVe' 
expre.mojf,      If  the  org^oi  o%yer  «re'u.rt  uf  WJter,  how;  o^n 

55 V     * ■      ^' m . — ! . ZXS- 

. . j-^ ^_ .-^      ^ — ^ ^nr 


'4 


■■^^■f 

**"'. 


.1 


..i 


'*:■ 

/t 


-  >  ■  ■  '■  J 


li 


•i*'. 


t'l  ^ 


"IT 


?*• 


^* 


•jfj 


'^yf» 


:0' 


*«i 


■^iff^-^lf^i^-f 


"fpsp 


,.i«P)UipW|i  , 


fl 


!f         11 


i       1 

I  ) 


^         "*  LITEBARr  TASTES.  '        [Ch«.  IX. 

With  dfetbguished  men  in  all  parts  of  Europe,  but 
especially  with  English  authors.  ^ 

oonverZt  "f "  """""'  '"  "'^"■^  '"»'  «»«=•>  'ho 
One  day  I  „»,  asked  whether  it  were  true  that  the 
committee  for  deeiding  on  the  statues  to  be  set  up 

Kl    u^,^f°'   ""''   "'«"'■''■•   Milton,  was   at   first 
bW>k.balled  and  how  they  could  possibly  be  dispm 

^i^^T"  t-^"""™  ■"  ""-«  -dHobcrCn 
Mh.st„nans  while  a  graiiter  than  either  of  them 

^ted«7    t  ""'  "'  ""'  "l-"""-      They  sug: 

Cu  red  tl"        """'  """»™'y  J"-  ">ii?l.t  »«n  ^ 
requ.rcd  to  pronou««  feirly  „„  the  merits  of  Chris- 

mvfrieT;     '■°''  ^""  --"•^■"•'■'."'"i''  one    f 

WaLti  f"™""',*'''"  ™'"<l«<i  f'"ther  from  hi, 
WalhaNa  f,ccai,sc  he  was  a  Protestant,  and  instead 
ofthhakspcar.  «„d  Newton  could  endure  no  renre- 
"""":"■"  f  ""•"••  genius,  save  the  orthXZ: 
AM'red  and  Koger  Bacon  ?-  I  was  curious,  wh™ T 
got  home,  to  learn  how  much  of  this  g,„.ip  ,bo„t 
th  ng,  ,1,  „„  ,,,,  „„  «      P  "^u 

fo  mation,  anjlT^,  ,„„„,„,  ^  j„j  ^,,^^,  -^  " 

ultimately  ,elec,i\l   were  Chaucer,  8,»n,er,   Shal  . 

—nng  that  a   single  Ma.,k   ball  excluded,  S 

rr^  ■""I""-.  •"<U|."ld.  I  am  sure,  be  ap. 

pm.dufl,v«ht«mryj«rj||M,„«„„hu,„rt,.     i  „l 

also  ghu   /,,     ,11  ri  that  ill  laBfc  i  was 

B  uiitt  111  itjnwn,  as  soon  as  |iolitieal 


il. 


s'K'j'^s* 


•■/-••IF 


MM 


'^*     tjn^p^pas"s-5(?S««^p5r'''5^     ^ 


I    ^ 


[Chap.  IX. 
but 


Chap.  IX.] 


COST   OF  LIYINO. 


US 


m  much  the 
I  in  London, 
•ue  that  the 
o  be  set  up 
n  favour  of 
thfcir  minds 
den.  Swift, 
as   at    first 

*  be  disput- 
Robertson 

I*  of  them, 
Thcj  sug- 
:ht  soon  be 
s  of  Chris- 
lid  one  of 
)irit  yf  the 
'  from  his 
id  instead 
no  repre- 
)dox  t^ing 
18,  when  I 
»ip  about 
sorrect  in- 
eix  poets 
ir,  Shiik- 
ilt  which, 
Jtled,  did 
e,  be  ftp. 

•  1  was 
politio>ttl  ' 


parties  clmnged,  a  royal  oftier  wa«  issu^  to  admit  the 

bust  of  Luther  into  the  Walhalla.  °  «"""  the 

The  AmericaDs,  in  general,"  have  more  self^posees- 

th.8  eharacteristio  belongs  perhaps  less  to  the  Bosto 
mans  ,       ,„  ,h,  ^^,^^  ^^  ^V^  ^^  e  Bo^to- 

of  the  Umon.     On  the  other  hand,  the  me.^bero1 
he  g„,at  republic  <^  sensitive  and  touet/aTout 
ther  country,  a  point  on  which  the  English  ar^i^ 
per  urbably  indifferent,  being  proud  of  1'^^^^ 
Br.t«h  even  to  a  fault,  since  contempt  for  the  LS 
of  other  nations  may  be  carried  so  far  as  to  dwS 
the  prospect  of  national  improvement.  •  It  miThr^ 
better  ,f  each  of  the  great  branches  of  the  l„ll„ 
ba^on   famdy   would   borrow   something  Lm  The" 

Imte  so  as  t    care  lep  for  what  otlx,™  were  thinking 
of  h  msclf  md,v,dually,  »„«  if  J„„„i,  „  ^„^j  ^^Z 

wha  others  are  t kin,  of  his  country. 

The  expense  of  livi„g-in  the  Northern  States  is    ' 
«p..n  the  w  ole    deoidediy  mofo  reasonable  Cn 
England..ltl,„,,gh  theiA.  both  of  men  and  won  el 
r    '""™«'''»'    ''™^--     I^'  Won,  also,  the  ren    of 
bouses  ,s  very  bigh,,but  not  so  in  the  cou.fry    '  T™ 
.  vellmg  is  much  choanor  «nd  »>  „™  e    ,^' 
and  ho„l.    n  P"?'""  ""  "^e  food,  newspapers, 

uril  ,1  """'"'"'«  "'"  ''™™e''  P™"  of  broad 

hmltha    ,t  „  alK,ut  twentylfive  per  eeit    eheuuer 

Xruitrv"'";"" "-•  '^' -"•«'-.-. i-tiSc^  ■ 

,md  !'"•     ",  ""'''''^  "*  """■■"'■■o..c..1,ulli„ers 

and  dn^ssmakers.  should  be  a.  inadciuate  t.  .hed^ 


^         C'" 


«■ 


I- 


-* 
'l' 

* 

'■ 

-■li      « 

J.L     v! 

M 

mmm 

^. 

^^-    s^----       - 

jppgp^lljjpi^  i,<ii    mimi" .  i  lu  i  iJ.|luiwpiMnppHpiP 


ill 


[■    ' 


] 


/  '. 


\ 


\ 


166 


COST   OP   LIVING. 


[Chap.  IX. 


raand  as.  in  some  of   our  newly-founded   colonies 
^  >^hen  most  progressive,  I  leave  to  political  economist* 

to  explain.^  My  wife  was  desirous  of  haviiig  a  dress 
and  bonnet  made  up  in  a  week,  but  one  milliner  after 
another  declined  to  undertake^^  task.  It  would  be 
a  useful  lesson  to  those  who ^re  accustomed  to  con- 
sider themselves  as  patrons  whenever  they  engage 
others  to  do  work  for  them,  to  learn  how  in  reality, 
if  things  are  in  a  healthy  Mate,  the  obligation  is 
#  mutual ;  but  to  discover  that  the  usual  relations  of 

the  employei*  and  employed  is  entirely  reversed,  ^and 
that  the  favour  is  by  no  means  conferred  by  the  pur- 
chaser, WOUI4   try  the  patience   of  most  travellers. 
Friends  interceded,  but  in  vain ;  till,  at  last,  a  repre- 
sentation was  made  to  one  of  these  Important  per- 
sonages, that  my  wife  was  about  to  leave  the  city  on 
a  fixed  day,  and  that  being  a  foreigner  she  ought,. out 
of  courtesy,  to  be  assisted  j   an    appeal  which  was 
successful,  and  the  work  was  then   undertaken    and 
sent  hftnie  with  strict  punctuality,  tmiily  made,  and 
every  sjMire  scrap  of  the  materia!  honestly  returned, 
the  charge   being  about  equal  to  that  of   ike   first 
London  dressmakers. 

,We  remarked  in  some  of  the  country  towns  of 
Massachusetts,  where  the  income  of  tlw  family  was 
very  modemte,  that  the  young  ladies  indulged  in  ex- 
travagant dressing  — 40/.,  for  exnmjjh-,  \mo^  paid  for 
a  shawl  in  one  instance.  Some  of  the  rkjlwsr  e,\mm, 
who  had  returned  from  passing  a  year  or  two  m 
Germany  and  England,  had  been  much  struck  with 
the  economical  habit*!,  in  dress  anel  in  the  luxurie* 
of  the  table,  of  jiersons  in  easy  circumstanQes  there, 
and  the  example  h«M]  not  been  lost  00  them. 


■%r 


«V     i' 


<•:    4 


'-  ■  '^ 


'>..  -t 


fr!  ■ 


**w<nH«iiiNnpnH 


h-w 


-V,  1     *|J  f 


-i^^f^Slf*; 


[Chap.  IX. 

ded  colonies 
il  economists 
aving  a  dress 
nilliner  after 

It  would  be 
)med  to  con- 
they  engage 
sv  in  reality, 
)bligation  is 

relations  of 
Bversed,  ^and 
by  the  pur- 
t  travellers, 
ist,  a  repre- 
•ortant  per- 
the  city  on 

ought,.out 
which  was 
•taken    and 

made,  and 
y  returned, 
'    the   first 


y  ■ 

Chap.  IX.]  i^AKMS  OP  riRE.  jgy 

rf  th^  heafy  en^tr  "^f'^'/"^^'"'^  by  the  rattling 

of  these  conflagratioarwli      ^'    .T  *°"  *"""  ^^ 
suspicions  of  this  kind  oro  "^Jscinet;  but  no 

of  the  buildiags  are  of  C  Z  TT'""'-    **"' 

".  the  putlie,  building,  MfilZn'iTf  e^^lT 


1 

■I 


towns  of 
family  wm 
Iged  in  ,fx- 
fk|f  paid  for 
fimr  cIms, 
or  two  m 
truck  with 
0  luAuriii^ 
iQes  there, 


{_, 


ijV-..^^'''   .»s* 


n 


■i^ 


^■'*'^  ,viS' 


•*\.  ^' 


I'  K 


V-; 


BLIND  ASYLUM, 


[CHA.P. 


CHAP.  X.  / 

Boston.  —Blind  Asylum' Und  Laura  Bridgenu^.  —Respect  for 
Freedom  of  Conscience.  ^  Cemetery  of  J^mnt  Auburn.  — 
Channing's  Cenotaph.  —  Epi^cmal  ijhu^ohes.  -  Unitarian 
Congregations.  —  Eminent  Pr^ii^rs.  — /Progress  of  Unita> 
ridns  why  slow,— Their  Works  reprinted  in  England.  —No- 
thingarians. —  Episotipalian  Asceticism.  —  Separation  of  Reli- 
gion and  Politics.       ^ 

DuHiNO  our  stay  at  Boston  we  visited  the  Perkins' 
Institution,  or  Asylum  for  the  Blind,  and  found  Laura 
Bridgeman,  the^-girl  who  h^Hbeen  blind,  deaf,  and 
dumb  from  infancy,  much  grown  since  we  saw  her  ^ 
four  years  ago.     She  is  now  sixteen,  and  looks  very 
intelligent.      She  was  reading  when  we  entered,  and 
we  were  told  that  formerly,  when  so  engaged  and 
alone,  she  Used  to  make  with  one  hand  the  signs  of. 
ail  the  words  which  she  felt  out  with  the  other,  just 
as  an  illiterate  beginner  speaks  aloud  each  sentence  as 
he  8|»ell(i  it.    But  the  process  of  convoying  the  mean- 
ing of  the  words  to  her  nund  is  now  far  too  m])id  for 
such  delay,    and  the  hand  not  occupied  in  reading 
repiaim  motionless.     We  were  afterwards  delighted 
to  watch  her  while  she  was  following  the  coovcrs^ 
tion  of  two  other  dumb  children,  who  were  using  the 
modern  single-hand  al[)habet.     She  was  able  to  coiii- 
prehehd  all  the   idojis  they  were   exchanging,   and 
***  H®*"!*®"*,  a»  it  wore,  every  word  they  said,  by 


making  her  fingers  play,  with  fairy  lightness   over 

theirs.  With  SO  sli'n-K^^  „  *      i  ^  "feumess,  over 

wife'.  .i.„  ,       .        curiosity  in  examining  mv 

wife  8  dress,  and,  taking  her  hand    t,>u  i.         i," l 
"■as  her  wedding  rin<.  and  tl,     f '  "''  "'""'' 

•he  deaf  and  dumrXhabet      Sh'^°  !"  '""='"  "" 
whether  it  is  a  ladvC  1     ^    .,  "  '^"'^■>"  """"^ 

towards  a  stL^gt'  /  tt"otht  sr  "2  T"  '  "^ 

childrrrntrmX"^"""  """'  ""^^  ""'  ""'- 

VVe  learnt  from  ir.  Howe  that  the  tusk  of  earrv 
Sous  r  f ''•'"'™  "^  ''«='"""  "•-  -d  »"re 

thepercepdve    sJtX  "'""'"/""<=''  ^'-^^  "-au 
would  he  Vl  i  ?  ' ""  *80  when  other  children 

Z  e'Vtt    ';  """"•"'"^  '■'«='«  l-^  'he  use" 

whei.  the    Tusu^lv  f  "l.'""T','''^  "'^""'P''^' 

>-  and  battles,  ^^trrjdJ''"'':''''''  "' 
wl'ieh  men  sin,,,  „  J      ,      ,         ^  '*"'  ""'tives  for 

«.  their  wiek  d?el    .rr''"'  """  '"  -"  ^^"^^ 
to  purwe  tht l;:^;.  ""'  "^  ■»"  -»-'^  be  indueed 

^ulpriCwoir""*  "'•'  """  """O"- 
q     n ted  wuJ.  the  di«pp«u,u.ent.  of  per«,m  who 


■•)! 


'•      T  ;:t 


*< 


•■  -  t;  «  -..■■j-n^:^r^;j,y.  J^-,  !r^_-,^|^^|^^ 


*  r»s?^s'^?^'?^;^^i^fp^ 


170 


BLIND  ASYLUM. 


I 


I  I 


li"?t 


[Chap.  X. 

undertake  to  teach  pupils  who  are  simply  bUnd,  and 
not  suffering,  like  Laura,  under  the  double  privation 
of  the  senses  of  sight  and  hearing. 

Great  pains  had  been  taken  to  make  qne  of  the 
boys,  whom  we  saw,  have  a  correct  idea  of  a  horse ; 
he  had  got  by  rote  a  long  list  of  characteristics,  and 
had   felt  the  animal,  and  th«  fortification  of  the  w 
master  may  be  conceived  on  discoyering  that  after 
all  the  child  could  not  be  sure  whether  the  creature, 
had  three,  four,  or  five  legs.     After  a  few  days'  in- 
tercourse with  the  blind,  we  no  longer  marvel  that 
precocious  children,  who  begin  to  read/€arly  and  get 
by  heart  and  recite  long  poems,  or  become  knowing 
by  keeping  company  with  grown-up  people,  are  so 
often  overtaken  or  left  behind  by  those  who  have 
been  neglected,  and  have  s^aent  their  time  at  play. 
For  when  the  truants  are  supposed  to  be  m'lit  idle, 
they  may,  in   rbality,   be  storing  their  minS  with, 
a  multitude  of  facts,  to  give  a  detailed  description  of 
which  to  a  student,  in  or' out  of  a  blind  ajylum, 
would  fill  volumes.  .       I         ' 

Dr.  Howe  told  us  of  a' blind  Frenchman  in  the 
establishment,  who  could  guess  the  age  of  strangers, 
by  hearing  their  voices,  muclVxftore^iiajurately  than  he 
and  others  who  could  see  te  well  as  talk  with  them. 

On  looking  over  the  annual  re[)ort8  of  the  trustees, 
I  observed  that  on  Sunday  tlie  pupils,  about  a  hundred 
in  number,  and  belonging  ^to  various  sects,  attend 
public  worship  in  several  different  churches, '  they 
themselves,  or  their  parents,  choosing  some  par- 
ticular church.  ♦'  iMany  of  them,"  says  the  refxirt, 
*'  attend  Sabbath-Schools,  and,  m  oai'e  is  takW  tj 


l^.' 


m-i^H^ 


J     %        "  ti- 


C.^0   CEMET.EBy  6f  MOUNT  AUBURN.     „y 


bads  prescribed,  b,  the  Sir  ^"^^^  "P°"  ">e 

for  the  sake  of  worldiradvlts  TA'"'  T'^ 
implying  great  delicafy  of  fed L,  i„  .  T'"''' 
conscier-ce,  and  a  prof„/„d  respee  Ir  "he  .       '^    "^ 

.     •        1  -^    e'^ound,  covered   wlf  •    nnt    „^  i 

Pme,  has   been  enelosed  for  a  nuhll,  / 

From  the  highest  eminence  tl^r  a  'r  i'''^' 
the  surrounding  country  Since  I  >  • """'  "' 
»  chape,  has  blen  e^L  o^lLri  1' o!!:^ ' 

Rate      The  I     T      '*'  ""''  "  '"«^«'"'«  »'"«>»» 
^"otnph  has  be»^ed  in  the  grounds  in  hon.ut 


/ 


r 


.  *  J7?  •«M8C0P|k  CHURCHES.       '     [Chip.  X. 

of  EJ-.  Channiag,  with  ah  inscription  written  by  a 

■    t!Z,T  ■  ^iT^  "■"'"•bitious^tyle,  such  as  Channing 

hmself  would  have  wished.  ■  I  rejoieed  to  hear  that 

as  h.s  funeral  procession  was  passing  through  the 

chapel  was  tolled  among  the  rest,  and  I  recollected 

iT  8i?"T  "'^f™'^''«™«  I  had  had  with  him 
n  1841  They  who  witness  the  impulse  given  by 
h.m  to  the  Cause  of  popular  education,  the  increasing 
hbemhty  of  sentiment  in  New  England  on  matte.^ 
of  rel,g,on,  and  the  great  popularity  of  his  works, 
.  might  desire  to  inscribe  on  his  tomb - 

"  E'en  in  Ms  ashes  live  theii  Wonted  fires." 
Some  of  the  episcopal  churches  in  Boston  are  con- 
ducted on  the  high,  and  others  on  the  low  ohurch ' 
model;  and  the  Ti-actarian  movement  has  had  the 
effect  here,  as  m  England,  not  of  ^stablisliina  uni- 
formity by  a  strict  adherence  to  one  rubric,  but  of 
producing  a  much  greater  variety  than  formerly  in 
the  manner  of  performing  public  worship.  '  If/be- 
eidcs  striking  out  the  Athanasian  Creed,  the  American 
episcopal  church  had  omitted  the  Nicene  Creed,  as 
•hey  first  projwsed  in  1785,  and  had  condensed  ind 
abndged  the  T^rty-nine  Articles  to  twenty,  mea- 
urc,  from  which  they  were  dissuaded  by  the  English 
Inemrchy,  from  whose  hands  their  first  bishops  re- 
qmred  consecration,  a  scliism  might  probably  have 
akenph.ce  when  the  Trac.arian  movement  occurred, 
mid  thy  might  have  separated  into  two  chu«,lies  far 
more  distinct  than  that  of  the  Drummondites  and 
^c,    opponents,  or  the  partisans  of  the  Scotch  and 
i-nglish  rubric  north  of  the  Tweed. 


[Chap.  X. 

written  by  a 
I  as  Channing 
to  hear  that 
through  the 
nan  Catholic 
I  recollected 
ad  with  him 
ise  given  by 
le  increasing 
on  matters 
P  his  works. 


•es. 


on  are  con- 
low  church 
laa  had  the 


ishinof 


uni- 


)ric,  but  of 
fornaerly  in 
p.     Iff  be- 
J  American 
!  Creed,  as 
iensed  and 
3nty,  mea- 
he  English 
)i8hop8  re- 
)ably  have 
;  occurred, 
lurches  far 
ulites  and 
cotch  and 


■4.. 


Chap.  X.] 


UNITARIAN   CONGREGATIONS. 


173 


is  used  w  r* "l^''^' ^^^'^' '^' ^^S^^^ liturgy 
reau  ed  T  '"f  '°^""^°«  ^"^  ^^^^^tlons  as  a^e 
required  to  suit  the  opinions  of  Unitarians  for  thit 
chapel  was   transftrred   from   th'.    A      ,      '  ^^ 

Unitarian  Church  bv  L  ^^^''^°  *^   *^^ 

and  -Jority^T^e'^^^^^^^ 

the  other  Unitarian  wKk!:  "  '"  ^^""^'^  ^" 

in  form  that  ofT  ^^f  ^*^'  '"'^^'^  ^^^^'"bles 
Before  mvfi.   ^.        ^"^'^"^  '^""''^  of  Scotland. 

be  ieve  2t  th  ""•  *"  ^"*^°'  ^  ^^^  ^-^  ^^^  to 
Deneve  that  the  majority  of  the  citizens  were  Uni- 
tanans ;  whereaa  T  ft^,,,^  •        .  ^ 

thev  mnv  :        ".  '  ''''  '''^"'^^'  that  although 

they  may  exceed  m  number  any  other  sinc^le  seft 

a. on    and  acarcely  ™or6  than  a  tenth  In  mZ' 
X'Z:t  Sr^  -  W-canothefr 
tiansV  nrT    -1        .  ^z*'"'*'^"'^    (pronounced    Chrys- 

^at  .an,  .ho  wo^i^  oth^™:'^^"!:^  . 

do  ™T  r  '''"u''°^ "" "-''  p°-'.  although  x; 

s-' rr- "- 4arLiz- 

md.  '■  like   chUdren   bom   bh„d    ,r      .    "'K  " 
coloure."  '''   '■'^Pu'ing  about     . 

The  prominent  position  occupied  by  the  tJni,,. 
nana  arisea.  not  from  their  number,  nor'^tl  eir  we^t  " 
however  conaiderablo  this  may  bo    ZtT      T  ' 

.a.ent.earneatn.a.and.no:tt:^iro;t- 


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174 


UNITARIAN  CONGREGATIONS.       [Chap.  X. 


leading  minds  in  the  Union  belong  to  this  dect,  and 
among  t&em,  Channing,  Sparks,  Dewey,  and  other 
well-known  authors,  have  been  converts  from  the 
Congregationalists. 

To  have  no  creedfQo  standard  to  rally  round,  no 
fixed  canons  of  interpretation  of  Scripture,  is  said  to 
be  fetal  to  their  progress. ,  Yet  one  of  their  body 
remarked  to  me  that  they  might  be  well  satisfied 
that  they  were  guning  ground,  when  it  could  be  said 
that  in  the  last  thirty  years  (since  1815)  the  number 
of  their  ministers  had  increased  in  a  tenfold  ratio,  or 
from  fifty  to  five  hundred,  whereas  the  population, 
had  only  doubled  in  twenty-five  years.  He  also 
reminded  me  that  their  ranks  are  scarcely  ever  re- 
cruited from  foreign  emigrants,  from  whom  the 
Romanists,  Presbyterians,  Methodists,  Baptists,  and 
Episcopalians  annually  draw  large  accessions.  A 
more  kindly  feolii^  has  of  late  years  sprung  up  be- 
tween the  Unitarians  and  CongregationaJists,  because 
some  of  the  most  eminent  writers  of  both  sects  have 
joined  in  defending  themselves  against  a  common 
adversary,  namely,  those  rationalists  who  go  so  far 
as  to  deny  the  historical  evidence  of  the  miracles 
related  in  the  New  Testament,  Imd  who^  in  some 
other  points,  depart  more  widely  from  the  Unitarian 
standard,  than  does  the  latter  from  that  of  Rome 
itself.  Norton,  author  of  "  The  Genuineness  of  the 
Gospels,"  may  be  mentioned  as  one  of  the  celebrated 
Unitarian  divines  who  has  extorted  from  iitjp  more 
liberal  members  of  all  "  orthodox  "  denominations  the 
praise  of  being  a  defender  of  the  faith. 

In  the  course  of  my  two  visits  to  the  United  States, 


14- 


^fe^^W  iiiki^;M^!. 


«-«^ 

> 


Chip.  X.] 


EMINENT   PREACHERS. 


175 


I  enjoyed  opportunities  of  hearing  sermons  preached 
hj  many  of  the  most  eminent  Unitarians,  —  among 
ihem  were  Channing,  Henry  Ware,  Dewey,  Bellows, 
Putnam,  and  Gannet, — and  was  much  struck,  not 
only  with  their  good  sense  and  erudition,  but  with 
the  fervour  of  their  eloquence.     I  had  been  given  to 
understand  that  I  should  find  a  want  of  warmth  in 
th^  discourses,  that  they  were  too  cold  and  philo- 
sophical, and  wanting  in  devotional  feeling;  but,  on 
the  contrary,  they  were  many  of  them  most  impressive, 
fip  of  earnestness  and  zeal,  as  well  as  of  original 
views^  and  instruction.     One  of  the  chief  charac- 
teristics was  the  rare  allusion  made  to  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, or  to  controverted  points  of  doctrine,  or  to 
the  mysteries  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  the  fre- 
quency with  which  they  dwelt  on  3ie  moral  precepts 
and  practical  lessons  of  the  Gospels,  especially  the 
precuihing  of  Christ  himself.    Occasional  exhortations 
to  the  faithful,  cheerfully  to  endure  obloquy  for  the 
sake  of  truth,  and  to  pay  no  court  to  popularity,  an 
undue  craving  for  which  was,  they  said,  th^^  |)ane 
of  a  democracy,  convinced  mo  how  much  Uuiliea  of 
their  standing  in  a  hostile  position  to  a  Im^o  nu- 
merical majority  of  the  community  was  present  to 
their  minds.     On  tome  oooasions,  however,  reference 
was  naturally  made  to  doctrinal  points,  particularly 
to  the  humanity  of  Christ,  his  kindred  nature,  and 
its  distinctness  from  that^  of  the  eternal,  omnipo- 
tent, and  incorporeal  Spyrit  which  framed  the  uni- 
▼erse-;  but  chiefiy  on  oooasiohs  when  the  orator  was 
desirous  of  awakening  in  the  hearts  of  his  hearers 
•motions  of  tenderness,  pity,  gratitude,  and  love,  by 


•i  'i--rti''''-y;ife#^-' 


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176 


£ 


CHAfmiNG'S  WOBKS. 


[Chap.  X, 


dwelling  on  the  bodily  suflPerings  of  the  Redeemer 
on  the  cross.  More  than  once  have  I  seen  these 
appeals  produce  so  deep  a  sensation,  as  to-  move  a 
highly  educated  audience  to  tears ;  and  I  came  away 
assured  that  they  who  imagine  this  form  of  Chris- 
tianity to  be  essentiaUy  cold,  Ufeless,  and  incapable  of 
reaching  the  heart,  or  of  powerfully  influencing  the 
conduct  of  men,  can  never  have  enjoyjed  oppor^ 
;  tunities  of  list<ilteg  to  their  most  gifted  preachers,  or 
^  had  a  large  personal  intercourse  with  the  members  of 
the  sect. 

When  I  wished  to  purchase  a  copy  of  the  writings 
of  Channing  and  of  Dewey  in  Boston;  I  was  told 
that  I  could  obtain  more  complete  and  cheaper  edi- 
•      tions  in  London  than  in  the  United  States;  a  proof, 
,      not  only  how  much  they  are  read  in  England,  but 
that  the  pecuniary  interests  of  British  authors  are 
not  the  only  ones  which  suffer  b^e  want  of  an 
international  copyright.     On  inq|l||^  of  the  pub- 
lishers at  Boston,  as  to  the  eilSIKf  the  sale  of 
Channing's  works  in  the  Unit^  States,  I  was-  in- 
formed that  several  of  them,  ^published  separately, 
had  gonQ  through  manj;  editions,  and  no  less  than 
9000  copies  of  the  whole,Tn  six  volumes,  had  been 
sold  already  (1845),  and  the  demand  for  them  wan  , 
on  the  increase,  many  copies  having  been  recently 
ordered  from  distant  places  in  the  West,  such  as  St. 
Louis  and  ChioAgo.     A  reprint  of  the  same  edition 
at  Glasgow,  has  circulated  widely  in  England,  and 
the  reading  of  it  in  America  is  by  no  means  confined 
to  Unitarians,  the  divines  of  other  denominations, 
especially  the  Calvinists,  being  desirous  to  know  what 


iMnirrilllj^ilttrl  Wflifl    -HI      Ti*-i         -'  ■    -ii'itiT       -r aS 


Chap.  X.] 


NOTHINGARIANS. 


177 


has  been  written  against  them  by  their  great  an- 
tagonist. 

Having  been  informed  by  one  of  my  friends  that 
about  a  fifth  of  all  the  New  Englanders  were  «  No- 
thingarians/M  tried,  but  with  little  success,  to  dis- 
cover the  strict  meaning  of  the  term.    Nothing  seems 
more  vague  and  indefinite  -than  the  manner  of  its 
appUcation.     I  fancied  at  first  that  it  might  signify 
deists  or  infidels,  or  persons  careless  about  any  re- 
ligious faith,  or  who  were  not  church-goers;   but, 
although  it  may  sometimes  signify  one  or  all  of  these, 
I  found  it  was  usually  quite  otherwise.     The  term 
latitudinarian,  used  in  a  good  sense,  appeared  most 
commonly  to  convey  the  meaning;  for  a  Nothingarian. 
I  was  mformed,  was  indifferent  whether  he  attended 
a   Baptist,  Mefhodist,  Presbyterian,  or   Congregu- 
tionalist  church,  and  was  often  ^ually  incUned  to 
contribute  monpy  liberally  to  any  one  or  all  of  them. 
A  Methodist  writer  of  some  eminei^ce  remafked  tt» 
me,  that  the  range  of  i  doctrines  embj^gd  by  these 
denominations,  wtf»  not  greater,  if  so  great,  as  that 
which  comprehended  within  the  same  pale  a  high 
tractarian  and  a  low  churchman,  and  that  he  who 
would  indifferently  subscribe  to 'these-  two  forms  of 
episcopalianism  might  with  equal  propriety  be  styled 
a  Nothingarian.     In  other  casts  I  ascertained  that 
the  term  Nothingarian  was  simply  used  for  persons 
who,  though  they  attended  worsWi)  regularly  in  some 
church,  had  never  been  communicants;     One  of  the 
latter,  an  Episcopalian,  once  said  to  mo,  "I  have 
never  joined  any  church;"  and  then  in  explanation 
•dded,  "  it  would  bo  hard  at  my  age  to  renounce 
1  s 


I'-* 


■MtAtrS- 


.•> 


'•  't  \     *    ..  \ 


-'.  *  1 


'X 


:  ) 


(il 


178 


■EPISCOPALIAN  ASoiTIOISM.         [Chap.  X. 


society,  dancing,  and  public  amusements."  I  expos- 
tulated soon  afterwards  with  an  Episcopalian  mi- 
"Ikister  in  Virginia,  observing  that  such  ideas  of 
austerity  and  asceticism  were  not  consistent  with 
the  spirit  of  th^^gUcan  Church.  This  he  admitted, 
^ut  pleaded  the  absolute  necessity  of  extreme  strict- 
ne^to  enable  them  to  efface  the  stigma  transmitted 
to  them  from  colonial  times;  for  in  the  Southern 
States,  particularly  in  Virginia,  the  patronage  of  th^ 
mother  country,  in  filling  up  livings,  was  for  a  century 
scandalously  abused,  and  m  i^nj  young  men  of 
profligate  .and  immoral  habits  were  sent  out,  as  to 
create  a  strong  prejudice  against  the  Established 
Church  of  England  in  the  minds  of  the  more  zealous 
and  sincere  religionists. 

On  one  of  my  voyages  home  from  America,  an 
officer  of  rank  in  the  British  army  lamented  that  the 
governor  of  one  of  our  colonies  had  lately  appointed 
as  Attorney-General  one  who  was  an  atheist.  I 
told  him  I  knew  the.  lawyer  in  question  to  be  a 
zealous  Baptist.  "Yes,"  he  replied,  "Baptist, 
Atheist,*  or  something  of  that  sort."  I  hav^  no 
doubt  that  if  this  gallant  colonel  should  visit  New 
England,  his  estimate  of  the  proportion  of  Nothing-  * 
arians  in  the  population  would  be  very  liberal. 

Travelling  as  I  did  in  1845-6,  through  a  krge  part 
of  the  Union,  immediately  after  the  close  of  the  pro- 
tracted contest  for  the  Presidency,  when  the  votes  in 
favour  of  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Polk  had  been  nearly 
balanced,  I  was  surprised  to  find,  in  the  north,  south, 
and  went,  hew  few  of  the  Americnns  with  whom  I 
conversed  as  travelling  companions  could  tell  me  to 


^^ggf|,l|inM.-i.*ii.^^.i...x>LA-„. . 


ff^'iVP^ 


Linenca,  an 


chap,x.]  religion  and  politics.  179 

what  denomination  of  Chri^ans  these  two  gentlemen 
belonged.     I  at  length  ascertained  that  one  of  them 
was  an  Episcopalian,  and  the  other  a  Presbyterian. 
This  ignorance  could  by  no  means  be  set  do^  to 
mdifferentism.     Had  one  of  the  Candidates  been  a 
man  of  mimoral  character,  it  would  have  Serially 
affected  his  chance  of  success,  or,  probably,  if  he  had 
been  suspected  of  indifference  about  religion ;   and 
not  a  few  6{  the  politicians  whom  I  questioned  were 
strongly  unbued  with  sectarian  feelings :  but  it  was 
dear  that  in  the  choice  of  a  first  magistrate  their 
mmds  had  been  whoUy  occupied  with  other  con- 
siderations ;  and  the  separation  of  re%ion  and  poli- 
tics, though  far  from  being  as  complete  as  might  be 
wished,  is  certainly  one  of  the  healthy  features  of  the 
working  of  the  American  institutions. 


( 


"C 


■  * 


^'  k 

• 

\, 

c . 

'.        1 

V 

I  C 

«►. 

* 

.  /I 

'■ 

• 

t 

■  ■rU^.,i^.  xlk-,:h^>i£;-^ 


n 


*^- 


■  Al'^siWft^*' 


180 


1 


WHIG   CAUCUS. 


[Chap.  XI' 


^^•' 


CHAP.  XI. 

^^,    Boston.  —  Whig  Caucus.  —  Speech  of  Mr.  Webgter.  —  Politics  in 

Massachusetts.  — Election  of  Governor  and  RepresentaHves.— 
Thanksgiving  Day  and  Governor's  Proclamation.  —Absence  of 
Pauperism.— Irish  Repeal  Meeting.— New  England  Sympa- 
thiser.—Visit  to  a  Free  School.  —  State  Education.  —  Pay 
and  Social  Rank  ofiTeachers.  —  Importance  of  the  Profession. 
—  Rapid  Progress\nd  Effects  of  Educational  Movemmt.— 
Popular  Lectures.  -AJjeTtding  Libraries. 

Nov.  10.  1845.— Went  to  a  great  meeting  of  about 
'    3500  people  in  Faneuil  Hall,  where  they  were  dis- 
cussing the  election  of  the  governor  and  executive 
officers  of  the  State.     It  was  called  a  Whig  caucus, 
being  only  attended  by  persons  of  oiie  political  party, 
or  if  others  were  present,  they  w6re  there  only  by  cour- 
tesy, and  eipected  to  be  silent,  and  not  interrupt 
,,tlie  harmony  of  the  proceedings.    When  I  entered,  I 
found  Mr.  Daniel  Webster  on  his  legs.     Since  the 
arrival  of  the  iast  mail  steamer  from  Liverpool,  fears 
had  been  entertained  that   the   pretensions  of  the 
Cabinet  of  Washington  to  the  whole,  or  greater  part, 
of  Oregon   must  end   in  a   war  between  England 
and  the  United  States.    This  topic  was  therefore  na- 
turally uppermost  in  the  minds  of  a  peace-loving  and 
commercial  community.     The  cautious  and  measured 
expressions   of  the  Whig  statesman   when   out   of 
office,  nn  1  his  evident  sense  of  the  serious  responsi- 


• 

I 

^ 

' 

r  ■ 

4 

^  . 

ljJ*k^^Li^i^ii^^M»a*iyfeyw& 

_j 

/ 


I  1 


Chap.  XI.]        8EEBCH  OF   MR.  WEBSTER. 


181 


bility  incurred  by  one  who  should  involve  two  great 
nations  in  war,  formed  a  striking  contrast  to  the  un-  , 
guarded  tone  of  the  late  inaugural  address  of  the 
President  of  the  Union  on  the  same  subject.     I  was 
amused  to  Ijear  frequent   references  made   to   the 
recent  debate  in  the  British  House  of  Commons,  the 
exact  words  of  Sir  Robert  Peel  and  others  being 
quoted  and  commented  upon,  just  as  if  the  discussion 
had  been   simply   adjourned  from  Westminster  to 
Boston.     The  orator  rebuked  the  blustering  tone  of 
defiance,  in  which  demagogues  and  newspapers  in 
some   parts   of  the  Union  were  indulging  against 
England.     He  then  condemned  the  new  constitution 
of  Texas,  which  prohibits  the  Legislature  from  ever 
setting  the  bondman  free,  and  deprecated  the  diversion 
made  from  the  ranks  of  the  Whigs  by  ttie  Abolition- 
ists, who,  by  setting  up  a  candidate  of  their  own  for 
the  Presidentship,  had  enabled  their  opponents  to 
carry  a  man  pledged  to  the  annexation  of  Texas.    At 
the  same  time  he  gave  this  party  the  credit  oOjeing 
as  conscientious   as   they   were  impracticabl(ro.He 
then  alluded  to  another  "  separate  organizatioif "  as 
it  is  here  called,  namely,  .that  of  the  «  Native  Ameri- 
cans," which  had  in  like  manner  defeated  the  object 
thef 'had  in  view,  by  dividing  the  Whigs,  the  ma- 
jority of   whom    agreed    in    thinking    the   present 
naturalisation  laws  very  defective,  and  that  a  stop 
should  be  put  to  fraudulent  voting.    The  introduction 
of  a  long  Latin  quotation  from  Cicero  showed  that 
the  speaker  reckoned  on  having  a  considerable  num- 
ber at  least  of  well-educated  men  in  his  large  audi- 
ence.   The  frequent  mention  of  the  name  of  Governor 


y    ■  1 


&^'k:A.int.-,/i^.:i.-^.i.:L^-^  -,v,i^: 


i 

^rr^l^ 

\ 

i:- 

\  ,   . 

1 

•'^t'^p^-' 


r  (' 


I . 


182  POLITICS  IN  MASSACHUSETTS.     [Chap.  XI. 

George  N.  Briggs,  the  initial  letter  only  of  the  second 
appeiJative  being  pronounced,  grated  strangely  on  my 
English  ears ;  for  though  we  do  not  trouble  ourselves 
to  leaj^  all  the  Christian  names  of  our  best  actors,  as 
Mr.  T.  P.  Cooke  and  Miss  M.  Tree,  we  are  never  so 
laconic  and  unceremonious  in  dealing  with  eminent 
public  men.     I  had  asked  several  persons  what  K. 
signified  m  the  name  of  the  President,  James  K 
Polk,  befoW!  I  ascertained  that  it  meant  Knox :  but| 
in  the  United  States,  if  might  have  no  other  signi- 
fication  than  the  letter  K.;  for,  when  first  in  Boston, 
I  requested  a  friend  toteU  me  what  B.  stood  for  in 
his  name,  and  he  replied,  «  For  nothing ;  my  surname 
was  so  common  a  one,  that  letters  addressed  to  me 
were  often  mis-sent,  so  I  got  the  Posjt-Office  to  allow 
me  to  adopt  the  letter  B." 

I  came  away  from  this  and  other  public  meetings 
convinced  that  the  style  of  speaking  of  Mr.  Webster, 
Mr.  Everett,  Mr.  Winthrop,  and  some  others,  would 
take  greatly  in  England,  both  in  and  out  of  par- 
liament      It  was  also  satisfactoiy  to  reflect,  that  in 
Massachusetts,  where  the  whole  population  is  more 
educated  than  elsewhere,  and  more  Anglo-American, 
having  less  of  recent  foreign  admixture,   whether 
European  or  African,  the  dominant  party  is  against  ' 
the  extension  of  slavery  to  new  regions  like  Texas, 
against   territorial  aggrandisement,  whether  in  the 
north  or  south,  and  against  war.     They  are  in  a   . 
minority,  it  is  true:  but  each  State  in  the  Union  has 
8uch  a  separate  and  independent  position,  that,  like  a 
distinct  nation,  it  can  continue  to  cherish  its  own 
principles  and  institutions,  and  set  an  example  to  the 


,.  !■,«  ,-ia.,yiL»>-uMtfA-Ji..' 


'-r*'?-^'  '»"*!i-.'-"*y*;^'-  ^~^='^*,''(«sK^s*i*^?'^Bw^9ig?j 


Chap.  XI.] 


ELECTION. 


183 


rest,  which  thej^may  in  time  learn  to  imlljtte!  The 
Whig8  were  originally  in  favour  of  more  centralisa- 
tion, or  of  giving  increased  power  to  the  federal  exe- 
cutive, while  the  democratic  party  did  all  tkey  could 
to  weaken  the  central  power,  and  euccessfuUy  con- 
tended for  the  sovereign  rights  and  privileges  of  each 
member  of  the  confederation.  In  so  doing  they  have 
perhaps  inadvertently,  and  without  seeing  the  bearirfg 
of  their  policy,  guarded  the  older  and  more  advanced 
commonwealths  from  being  too  much  controlled  and 
kept  down  by  the  ascendency  of  newer  and  ruder 
States. 

A  few  days  later,  I  went  to  see  the  electors  give 
their  votes.  Perfect  order  and  good-humour  pre- 
vailed, although  the  contest  was  a  keen  one.  As  I 
approaehed  the  poll,  the  agents  of  different  conS 
mittees,  supposing  that  I  might  be  an  elector,  put 
into  my°  hands  printed  lists,  containing  the  names  of 
all  the  candidates  for  the  offices  of  Governor,  Lieu- 
tenant-governor, five  senators,  and  thirty-five  re- 
presentatives. Every  registerfed  voter  is  entitled  to 
put  one  of  these  "idckets"  into  the  balloting  box. 
The  real  strugglPpras  between  the  Whigs  and 
Democrats,  the  former  of  Whom  carried  the  day; 
but,  besides  their  tickets,  two  others  were  presented 
to  me,  one  called  the  Native  American,  and  the  other 
the  Working  Man's  ticket.  The  latter  had  for  its 
emblem  a  naked  arm,  wielding  a  hammer,  and  for 
its  motto,  «  The  strong  right  arm  of  labour."  The 
five  senators  proposed  in  this  list,  consisted  of  two 
printers,  a  carpenter,  a  blacksmith,  and  a  surveyor, 
and  among  the  representatives  were  four  shoemakers, 


*\ 


•     *, 


-}    n^'^i 


r  , 


184 


'•: 


tHANKSGltiNG  DAT.  [ChIp.  il, 

one  tailor,  eight  c^pentere,  four  printers,  an  'en. 
gmeer,  &c.  ,  »  '  . 

I  heard  Americans  regret,  *that  besides  caucuses 
there  are  no  public  meetings  here  where  matters  are 
debated  by  persons  of  opposite  parties  and. opinions, 
such  as  are  sometimes  held  in  England.     I  was  sS, 
prised  to  hear  that  such  experiments  were  of  rare 
occurrence   in    a   country   where,  men    opposecN^a 
politics  frequently  argue  in   conversation   with   so- 
much  good  temper,  and  where,  in  so  m%  hotels  and 
taverns,  newspapers  of  all  shades  of  opinion,  are  taken 
m  just  as  m  our  great  club-houses  in  London,  afford- 
^    ing  opportunities  of  knowing  what  can  be  said  on  all 
'    sides  of  every  question.     I  have-  since  learnt  from 
correspondents,  that,  in  a  period,  of  political  excite- 
ment, the  people  in  many  parts  of  Massachusetts 
have  begun  to  engage  different  lecturers  to  explain  to 
them  theopposite  facts,  views,  and  arguments  adduce^ 
for  and  against  the  chief  sobjects  under  discussion. 

^.1^^"";  VT^^^  ^^'  Thanksgivipg  Day,  and  the 
•     4th  of  July,  Independence  Day,  are  the  onlly  two 
holidays   m   the  American   calendar.  "The   Gover- 
nqr  has,  they  say,- as  usual,  made  a  bad  guess  in 
regard  to  weather,  for  there  is  a  pelting  rain.     It 
waa  mdeed  ascertained   b^  actual  measurement' at 
Umbridge,  that  in  nineteen  Wurs  between  yesterday 
evenmg  and  to  day,  at  four  o'clock,  there  has  fallen 
no   less   than   font  and  a   half  inches   of  rain,  or 
one-eighth  part  of  the  average  of  the  whole  year.'^ 
which    amounts    to    thirty-six    inches    at    Boston. 
"  By  this, unlucky  accident    many  a  family  gather- 
ing^has  ,^een   interrupted,  and  relatives  have  Ijeen 


/ 


^'"\ 


""^  jg^-.r«f 'S3,^^^i 


'/ 


\  ' 


-    -     •  ■         ,  ,- «  "■ 

eHAP.  XL]  THANKSGIVING  DAY.  .  185 

'unable   to  conie   in   from  the    cq'Qiitfy  to   join  a 
^    merry  meeting,  corresponding  to  that  of  an  English. 
»  ^Christmas.  Day.      Many   a  sermon,  also,  carefully 
prepared  for  thenxscasion,  has  been  pregiched  to  empty 
pews ;   but  the-  newspapers  inform  us,  that  some  pf 
th^e  effusions  will  be  repeated   on    Sunday  next 
.^ixte^  States  h^ve  nQ\^  adopted  this  New  England^ 
custbm  of  appointing  i  day  for  thanksgiving,  and  it 
is  spreading   fast,   having-  already   reached    South 
Carolina,  and^en  Louisiana.     A  month-iSefore,  I 
had  heard  wifTlnterest  the  Governor's  proclamation 
read  in   all  the  churches,  full. of  good  feeling  and 
good  sense.     He  called  on  the  people  of  the  State, 
now  that  the  harvest  was  gathered  in,  to  praise  t;he^ 
God  of  Heaven  ibr  His  bounties,  and  in  their  cheerful" 
family  circle^to  render  t^  Him  a  tribute  of  thanks- 
giving for  His  goodness  : — /*  - 

"Let  us  praise  Himjthat,  jmder  His  protecting 
^Providence,  the  institutions"  of  state,  6f  religion,  of 
^learning  and  education,  established  by  the  prudence  : 
'hnd  wisdom  of  our  fathers,  under  which  their  Qhil- 
dren  have  been  prosperous  and  happy,  have  tome 
„  down  to  us  unimpaired  and  in  full  .vigour  : 
-     "  That  the  various  classes  of  our  citizens,  under  the 
mild  and  equal  government  of  laws  made  by  them- 
selves, pursue,  unnaolested,  upon' the"  land  and  upon  ^ 
the  sea,  their  peaceful  occupations  : 

"  That  although  we' have  heard  the  distant  rumour, 
and  seen  the  preparations  for  war,  our  common 
country  is  yet  at  p^ace  with  the  world." 

vin  no  part  of  U^e  address  warnny  elalm^'set  up  to 
the  ^dliar  favour  of  God,  or  his  special  intervention 


m 


^ 


1, 


V 


^ 


>-J 


fv  1    %\    i  ^  ^ 


\ 


186  ABSENCE   OP   PAUPERISM.         [Chaf.  XI. 

iiccha^tising  the  nation  for  particular  transgressions  • 
nothing  to  imply  that  He  does  nbt  govern  the  world 
J>y  fixed  and  general  laws,  moral  and  physical,  which 
It  IS  our  duty  to  study  and  obey,  and  which,  if  we  di^ 
obey,  whether  from  ignorance  or  wilfulness,  wiU  often 
be  made  the  instruments  of  our  puriishment  even  in 
this  world.  The  proclamation  concluded  thus,  in  the 
good  old  style : — 

"  ^'''VA*^^  ^^""'^^  Chamber,  in  Boston,  this  Ist 
day  of  October,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thou- 
sand  eight  hundred  and  forty-five,  and  of  the  In- 
dependence of  the  United  States  the  seventieth. 

*  "  Geobge  N.  BRiGas. 
"By  his  ExceUency  the  Governor,  with  the  advice 
*.        and  consent  of  the  Council. 

"John  G.  Palfrey,  Secretary. 
"  God  save  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts." 
The  almost  entire  absence  of  pauperism  even  in  the 
large  towns,  except  among  the  old  and  infirm,  forms 
a  striking  point  of  contrast  between   the  state  of 
thmga  in  New  England  and  in  Europe.  '  One  of  my 
friends,  who  is  serving  on  a  committee  in  Boston  to 
see  that  the  poor  who  are  too  old  to  work  have  all 
necessary  comforts,  has  just  ottered,  as  one  of  the 
indispensal^les,  a  carpet  for  the  bed-side  of  an  old 
woman.    Yet,  within  ^ve  miles  of  Boston,  some  of  the 
newly  arrived  emigrants  of  the  lower  chiss  of  Irish 
may  now  be  seen  living  in  mud  huts  by  the  side  of 
railway  cuttings,  which  they  are  employed  to  dig 
who  are  regarded  by  many  of  the  native-bom  la- 


^ 


Chap.  XI.] 


IBISH   EMIGBANT8. 


187 


bourers  with  no  small  disgust,  not  only  as  the  most 
ignorant  and  superstitious  of  jnortals,  but  as  likely, 
by  their  competition,  to  bring  down  the  general  stand- 
urd  of  wages.  The  rich  capitalists,  on  the  other  hand, 
confess  to  me,  that  they  know  not  how  they  could 
get  on  with  the  construction  of  public  works,  aftd 
obtain  good  interest  for  their  money,  were  they  de- 
^pri^ed  of  this  constant  influx  of  foreign  labour. 

'They  speak    also  ^   kindness    of  the   Irish, 
saying  they  are   moa^iUing  to  work  hard,  keep 
their  temperance  vows,  and,  inAspite  of  the  con- 
siderable  sums  drawn  fr6m  them  by  the  Catholic 
priests,  are  putting  by  largely  out  of  their  earnings 
into  the  Savings  Banks,     tt  is  also  agreed  that  they 
are  most  generous  to  their  poor  relations  in  Ireland, . 
remitting  money  to  them  annually,  and  sometimes 
enough  to  enable  them  to  pay  their  passage  across  t>he 
Atlantic.    At  the  same  time  they  confess,  with  much 
concern,  that  the  efforts  now  making  by  the  people 
at  large,  aided  by  the  wealthiest  class,  to  establish  a 
good  system  of  State  instruction,  and  to  raise  the 
moral  and  intellectual  character  of  the  millions,  must 
be  retarded  by  the  intrusion  of  so  many  rude  and 
ignorant  settlers.     Among  other  mischiefs,  the  poli- 
tical passions  and  party  feelings  of  a  foreign  country 
are  intruded  into  the  political  arena,  and  a  tempting 
field  laid  open  to  demagogues  of  the  lowest  order. 

Returning  home  one  night  after  dark  from  a  party, 
I  heard  music  in  a  large  public  budding,  and,  being 
told  it  was  a  repeal  meeting  held  by  the  Irish,  had  . 
the  curiosity  to  look  in.     After  a  piece  of  instru- 
mental  "auakijad^been  performed, jm^orator,  with  an 


0 


-  % 


-*'^'-57**f"^*''^**w 


■4i 


188  iBisH  REPEAL  MEETING.         [Chap.  XL 

Irish  accent,  addressed  the  crowd  on  the  sufferings 
of  the  Irish  people  precisely  as  if  he  had  forgotten 
on  which  side  of  the  Atlantic  he  then  was.     He 
dwelt  on-  the  tyranny  of  the  Saxons,  and  spoke  of 
repeal  as  the  only  means  of  emancipating  their  coun- 
try from  British  domination,  and  solicited  money  in 
aid  of  the  great  cause.     Seeing,  with  no  small  sur- 
pnse,  an  industrious  native-born  artisan  of  Boston, 
whom  I  knew,  in  the  crowd,  I  asked  him,  as  we 
went  out  together,  whether  he  approved  of  the  ob- 
jects of  the  meeting.     He  belonged  to  the  extreme 
democratic  party,  and  answered,  very  coolly  and  quite 
seriously,   «  We  hope  that  we  may  one  day  be  able 
to  do  for  Ireland  what  France  did  for  the  United 
{states  m  our  great  struggle  for  independence." 

On  my  return  home,.  I  found  that  my  pocket  had 
been  picked  of  a  purse  containing  fortunately  a  few 
dollars  only,  an  accident  for  which  I  got  no  com- 
miseration, as  my  friends  hoped  it  would  be  a  lesson 
to  me  to  keep  better  company  in  future. 

That  a  humble   mechanic   of  Boston   should   be 

found  who  indulged  in  wild  projects  for  redressing 

the  wrongs   of  the    Hibernian   race,  ought  not   to 

create  wonder,  when  I  state  that  before  the  end  of 

the  year  1845,  a  resolution  was  moved  in  Congress, 

by  Mr  M'Connell,  one  of  the  members  for  Alabama, 

after  he  had  been  talking  much  about  the  spirit  of 

Chnstian  love  and  peaceful  brotherhood  which  dis- 

tinguished  the  American  republic,  to  the  following 

effect:-"  That  the  Irish,  ground  down  by  British 

misrule,  have  for  centuries  groaned  under  a  foreign 

monarchical  yoke,  and  are  now  entitled  to  share  t^e 


1 


■i*^;*, 


Chap.  XL]        visit  TO  A  FEEE  SCHOOL.  189 

.blessings  of  our  free  institutions."  I  am  happy  to  say 
however,   that   this  absurd   motion   .was    not   even 
seconded. 

The  population  of  Boston,  exclusive  of  Charles- 
town,  Roxbury,  and  Cambridge  (which  may  be  re- 
garded as  suburbs),  is  at  present  about  115,000,  of 
which  8000  are  Roman  Catholics,  chiefly  of  Irish 
extraction;  l^ut  there  are  besides  many  Scotch  and 
English  emigrants  in  the  city.      In  order  to  prove 
to  me  how  much  may  be  done  to  advance  them  in 
civilisation  m  a  single  generation,  I  was  taken  to  a 
school  where  nine-tenths  of  all  the  children  were  of 
parents  who  had  come  out  from  England  or  Ireland.  It 
was  not  an  examination-day,  and  our  visit  was  whoUy 
unexpected.     We  entered  a  suite  of  three  weU-aired 
rooms,  containing  550  girls.     There  were  nine  teach- 
ers in  the  room.     The  pupils  were  all  between  the 
ages  of  nine  and  thirteen,  the  greater  portion  of  them 
the  daughters  of  poor  labourers,  but  some  of  them  of 
parents   in  good  circumstances.     Each  scholar  was 
seated  on  a  separate  chair  with  a  back  to  it,  the 
chair  being  immovably  fixed  to  the  ground  to  prevent 
noise.     There  was  no   uniformity  of  costume,  but 
Evidently  much  attention  to  personal  neatness,  nearly 
all  of  them  more  dressed  than  would  be  thought  in 
good  taste  in  children  of  a  corres|)onding  class  in 
England.     They  had  begun   their  studies  at  ^ine 
0  clock  in  the  morning,  and  are  to  be  six  hours  at 
school,  studying  fifty  minutes  at  a  time,  and  then 
being  aljowed  ton  minutes  for  play  in  a  yard  a^oin- 
^  observed  some  of  the  ffirla  verv  intent  on 


very 


their  Usk,  leaning  on  their  elbows  and  in  other 


cure- 


;  (i 


'.•\ 


ii  iMHIIIi,  .-■■  .^„y,tf,^.yu. 


190 


'V181T  TO  A  FREE  SCHOOL.      [Chap.  XI. 


'/.a 


less  attitudes,  and"  we  were  told  by  the  masters  that 
they  avoid  as.  much  as  possible  finding  fault  with 
them  on  minor  points  when  they  are  studying.  The 
only  punishments  are  a  reprimand  before  the  class, 
and  keeping  them  back  after  school  hours.  The 
look  of  intelligence  in  the  countenances  of  the  greater 
number  of  them  was  a  most  pleasing  sighi;.  In  one^ 
of  the  upper  classes  they  were  reading,  when  we  went 
in,  a  passage  from  Paley  "  On  Sleep,"  and  I  was  asked 
to  select  at  random  from  the  school-books  some  poem 
which  the  girls  might  read  each  in  their  turn.  I 
chose  Gray's  Elegy  in  a  Churchyard,  as  being  none 
of  the  simplest  for  young  persons  to  understand. 
They  each  read  a  verse  distinctly,  and  many  of  them 
most  gracefully,  and  explained  correctly  the  mean- 
ing of  nearly  all  the  words  and  allusions  on  which 
I  questioned  them. 

We  afterwards  heard  the  girls  of  the  arithmetic 
class  examined  in  algebra,  and  their  answers  showed 
that  much  pains  had  been  taken  to  make  theto  com- 
prehend the  princii)les  on  which  the  methods  of  cal- 
culation depended.  We  then  visited  a  boy's  grammar 
school,  and  found  there  420  Protestant  and  100 
Catholic  boys  educated  together.  We  remarked  that 
they  had  a  less  refined  appearance  and  were  less  for- 
ward in  their  education  than  the  girls  whom  we  had 
just  seen,  of  the  same  age,  and  taken  from  the  same 
class  in  society.  In  explanation  I  was  told  that  it  is 
impossible  to  give  the  boys  as  much  schooling,  because 
they  can  earn  money  for  their  parents  at  an  earlier 
age. 

The  number  of  public  or  free  schools  in  Mamachu- 


'gyjniW'iii  rr'^iTiHI  '" 


'I 

\ 


Chap,  XL]  STATE   EDUCATION.  igj 

setts  in  1845-6,  for  a  population  of  800,000  souls* 
w^  about  3500,  and  the  number  of  male  teacU 
^585,  and  of- female  5000,  .which  would  aUow  a 
teacher  for  each  twenty-five  or  thirty  children,  as 
many  as  they  can  well  attend  to.  The  sum  raised 
by  direct  taxation  for  the  wages  and  board  of  the 

600,000  dollars,  or  120,000  guineas;  but  this  is  ex- 
clusive of  all  expenditure  for  school-houses,  libraries 
and  apparatus,  for  which  other  funds  are  appropriated! 
and  every  year  a  great  number  of  newer  and  finer 
buildings  are  erected. 

Upon  the  whole  about  one  million  of  dollars  is 
spent  in  teaching  a  poi)ulation  of  800,000  souls  in- 
dependently of  the  sums  expended  on  private  instruc- 
tion,  which  m  the  city  of  Boston  is  supposed  to  be 
equal  to  the   money  levied  by  taxes  for  the  free 
schools,  or  260,000  dollars  (55,000/.).    If  we  were  to 
enforce  a  school-rate  in  Great  Britain,  bearing  the 
same  proportion  to  our  population  of  twenty^ight , 
milhons,  the  tax  would  amount  annually  to  more  than  ' 
seven  millions  sterling,  and  would  then  be  far  less 
effective,  owing  to  the  higher  cost  of  living,  and  the 
comparative  average  standard  of"  incomes  among  pro- 
tessional  and  official  men. 

In  Boston  the  master  of  the  Latin  School,  where 
boys  are  fitted  for  college,  and  the  master  of  the 
High  School,  where  they  are  taught  French,  mathe- 
mtics.  and  other  branches  preparatory  to  a  mercan- 
tUe  career,  receive  each  2400  dollars  (500/. V  the  Go- 
vernor of  the  State  having  only  2500  dollars.  Their 
assistants  are  paid  from  1800  to  700  dollara  (370/ 


v**^ 


192 


PAY   OF   TEACHERS. 


[Chap.  XI. 


to  150/.).  The  masters  of  the  grammar  schools,  where 
boys  and  girls  are  taught  in  separate  school-houses 
English  literature,  general  history,  and  algebra,  have 
salaries  of  1500  dollars  (3151.),  their  male  assistants 
600  (125/.).  and  their  female  300  (65/.).  The  mis- 
tresses of  schools,  where  children  from  four  to  Seven 
yeaig  old  are  taught  to  read,  receive  325  dollars 
(70L).  In  Salem,  Roxbury,  Lowell,  and  other 
large  towns,  where  living  is  more  moderate,  the 
salaries  are  about  one-third  less ;  and  in  rural  dis- 
tricts, where  the  schools  are  not'  kept  open  for 
the  whole  year,  the  wages  of  the  teachers  are  still 
smaller. 

The  county  of  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  for  ex- 
ample, has  a  population  of  about  100,000,  and  the 
number  of  schools  in  it  is  about  543,  the  schools  being 
kept  open  some  four,  others  twelve  months,  and  on  an 
average  six  months  in  the  year.  The  male  teachers, 
of  whom  there  are  about  500,  receive  30  dollars 
(6/.  6s.)  a,  month  ;  the  women  teachers,  of  whom 
there  are  700,  about  13  dollars  a  month  (2/.  ^5*.). 

Among  other  changes,  we  are  told,  in  the  State 
Repqrts,  that  the  number  of  female  teachers  has  been 
augmented  more  rapidly  than  that  of  the  males,  es- 
pecially in  schools  where  the  youngest  pupils  are 
taught,  because  the  services  of  women  cost  less,  and 
are  found  to  be  equally,  if  not  more,  eflficient.  But 
my  informants  in  general  were  desirous  that  I  should 
understand  that  the  success  of  their  plan  of  national 
education  does  not  depend  bo  much  on  the  number 
and  pay  of  the  teachers  as  on  the  interest  taken  in  it 
by  the  entire  population,  who  faithfully  devote  more 


/ 


"V       ' 


i^i^-- 


[Chap.  XI. 

ols,  where 
)ol-hou8e8 
ibra,  have 
assistants 
The  mis- 
r  to  s^ven 
!5  dollars 
nd  other 
irate,  the 
rural  dis- 
open  for 
i  are  still 

s,  for  ex- 
and  the 
>ols  being 
,nd  on  an 
teachers, 

0  dollars 
)f  whom 
f5s.). 
:he  State 
has  been 
aales,  es- 
iipils  are 
less,  and 
It.     But 

1  should 
national 
number 

ken  in  it 
ote  more 


193 


/ 


Chap.  XI.]  theIE  SOCIAL  POSITION. 

time  and  thought  to  the  management  of  the  «J.ooU 
than  to  any  other  public  duty. 

The  cost  of  living  in  vNew  EngUnd-  may,  on  th« 

l^tt^"'''''^:'  "^'  °-^'"«'  '-tit 

tutions,  the  frugal  manner  of  oondueting  the  govern, 
".en^  the  habit,  of  society,  and  a  gtf ater  !^Z^ 
equahty  of  fortunes,  where  the  custom\f  pri^'^ 
ture  does  not  prevaU,  causes  tte  reladve  v^Tof 
meomes  such  as  those  above  enumemed,  tolonfer  a 
more  ^spectable  social  position  than  ^y^o^ifdo 
with  us.  I  was  assured  tl.at  in  the  country  towns 
the  schoolmasters  associate  with  the  upper  cte"f 
0U,.ens,  holding  as  good  a  place  in  sTety  rtht 

tL;!""^'^  "'^"' ""'  -"'  ranking  soVaT 

".K  ^'^  'u '  fintNhm'^ver-fihe  relative  position  of 
the  teache«)   I  found  great  differences  of  opinion 

rerpa7a:d  ™r '^  -  ^""^"^  •8—'' "«" 

ehable  the  State  to  command  the  services  of  men  and 
women  of  the  best  abilities  and  accomplishmen  ^ 

Channmg  had.  for  many  years,  feforo  his  death 
.ns,sted  on  the  want  of  institutions  to  teachle 
art  of  teachmg.     There  are  no*  scveml  of  these 

:,Z  '^'  '"  '""  ^'"'*y-  "'"-  »  «o-e  of 

few  ca'naff  TT'"'  '?  «"'"•     ^»  y<"' '«'—'. 
tew  can  afford  to  attend  more  than  one  year-  but  ' 

even  th»  short  twining  has  g^atly  raised  the  «'„e«l 

extended  even  to  schoolmasters  who  have  nofy" 
■.va.le.1  themselves  of  the  new  training.     TuT^j;! 


K' 


2.iudbj     ^i-l    ia:£  1. 


\ 


sA:jjfi*t^'-._^-.v.vii.-,.t/«t^,, 


'■3S!r«v=isiwwrw5^5P^.ji|j||^«^  j'iif-- 


/( 


) 


'l 


f/' 


194 


HIGH  OFFICE  OF  TEACHERS.       [Chap.  XI. 


have,  in  fact,  responded  generously  to  the  eloquent 
exhortations  of  Channing,  not  to  economise,  for  the 
sake  of  leaving  a  fortune  to  the  rising  generation,  at 
the  expense  of  starving  their  intellects  and  impover- 
ishing their  hearts.  It  was  a  common  prejudice,  he 
said,  and  a  fatal  error  to  imagine  that  the  most  ordi- 
nary abilities  are  competent  to  the  office  of  teaching 
the  young.  "  Their  vocation,  on  the  contrary,  is 
more  noble  even  than  that  of  the  statesman,  and 
demands  higher  powers,  great  judgment,  and  a  ca- 
pacity of  comprehending  the  laws  of  thought  and 
moral  action,  and  the  various  springs  ahd  motives  by 
which  the  child  may  be  roused  to  the  most  vigorous 
use  of  all  its  faculties."* 

Nevertheless,  some  of  his  most  enthusiastic  ad- 
mirers confessed  to  me  that  they  could  not  assent  to 
his  doctrine,  that  "to  teach,  whether  by  wwd  or 
action,  is  the  highest  function  on  earth,1juinles8  young 
men  and  women,  between  the  ages  of  seventeen  and 
twenty-two,  are  the  pupils,  instead  of 'children  be- 
tween four  and  sixteen.  They  expressed  their  mis- 
givings and  fears  that  the  business  ef  the  school- 
master, who  is  to  teach  reading  and  writing  and  the 
elements  of  knowledge,  must  check  the  development 
of  the  mind,  if  not  tend  to  narrow  its  powers.  As 
the  real  friends  of  progress,  they  had  come  reluctantly 
to  this  conclusion  ;  but  they  admitted  that  to  despond 
at  present  would  be  premature.  The  experiment  of 
promoting  the  teacher  of  every  school  to  that  rank 
in  society  which  the  importance  of  his  duties  entitles 

*  Glasgow  Ed.,  vol.  i.  p.  891. 


.  I 


w    ■ 


U'^^  ^   ■'■'"' 


*4¥  -.»--^»-*'^    _,v/-,7   ^-i-^ff^  '"'■"'■^>';(  '?*^^^''S^*?f^«f3^'^^-/'"* 


^'^^ 


18  never 


Chap.  XL]  EDUCATIONAL  MOVEMENT.      /         I95 

him  to  hold,  and  of  training  him  in  his  art, 
yet  been  tried.  / 

We  have  yet  to  learn  what  may  be  the  effect  of 
encouragmg  men    of   superior   enei^  Ld   talent, 
who  have  a  natural  t^t^  for  the  calIing,/to  fit  them- 
selves lor  the  profession.  It  must  doubtle/s  entail  like 
every  other  liberal  Calling,  such  as  the  iW  medical, 
clencal,  mihtary,  or  mercantile,  a  certin  amount  of 
driidgery  and  routine  of  business;  but/  like  41  these 
dep^ments,  it  may  afford  a  field  for  ti  eniargement 
of  the  mmd,  if  they  who  exercise  it  /njoy,  in  a  like 
degree    access  to  the  best  society,/can  exchange 
thoughts  with  the  most  cultivated  /minds  in  their 
distnct,   and    have   leisure  allowed  them   for  self- 
culture,  together  with  a  reasonable  hbpe,  if  they  dis 
tmguish  themselves,  of  being  promoted  to  posts  of 
honour  and  emolument,  not  in  other  professions,  such 
as  the  clerical,  but  in  theit  own.     the  high  schools 
of^Boston,  supported  by  the  city,  tre  now  so  well 
managed,  that  some  of  my  friends,  4o  would  grudge 
no  expense  to  engage  for  their  Jons  the  best  in-  " 
structors,  send  their  boys  to  them  jLs  superior  to  any  ' 
of  the  private  establishments  suppcked  by  the  rich  at 
great  cost.     The  idea  has  been  recently  agitated  of 
providing  similar  free-schools  and  oplleges  for  girls 
because  they  could  more  easily  Jo  induced  to  stay 
untd  the  age  of  sixteen.     Yount  men,  it  is  said, 
would  hate  nothing  so  much  as  fto  find  themselves 
inferior  m  education  to  the  womei  of  their  own  age 
and  station.  ^ 

Of  late  years  the  improvement  of  the  schools  has 
been  so  rapid,  that  objectsjhichjwere Jjiougbt  Uto- 


TTf" 


4kk 


v. 


I  I 


I  \ 


196 


EDUCATIONAL   MOVEMENT. 


[Chap.  XL 


pian  even  when  Channing  began  his  career,  have 
been  realised,  and  the  more  sanguine  spirits,  among 
whom  Mr.  Horace  Mann,  Secretary  of  the  Public' 
.Board  of  Education,  stands  pre-eminent,  continue  to" 
set  before  the  eyes  of  the  public  an  ideal  standard 
so  much  more  elevated,  as  to  make  alf  that  has 
hitherto  been  accomplished  appear  as  nothing.  The 
taxes  self-imposed  by  the  peoplp  for  educational  pur- 
poses are  still  annually  on  the  increase,  and  the 
beneficial  effects  of  the  system  are  very  perceptible. 
In  all  the  large  towns  Lyceums  have  been  esta- 
blished, where  courses  of  lectures  are  given  ^very 
winter,  and  the  qualifications  of  the  teachers  who 
deKver  them  are  much  higher  than  formerly.  Both 
the  intellectual  and  8ocijj,l  feelings  of  every  class  are 
cultivated  by  these  evening  meetings,  and  it  is  ac- 
knowledged that  with  the  increased  taste  for  reading, 
cherished  by  such  instruction,  habits  of  greater  tem- 
perance and  order,  and  higher  ideas  of  comfort,  have 
steadily  kept  pace. 

Eight  years  ago  (1838)  Channing  observed,  that 
"millions,  wearied  by  their  day's  work,  have  been 
chained  to  the  pages  of  Walter  Scott,  and  have  owed 
some  bright  evening  hours  «nd  balmier  sleep  to  his 
inngical  crea^ons ; "  and  he  pointed  out  how  many 
of  th«)  labouring  class  took  delight 'in  history  and 
biography,  descriptions  of  nature,  in  tpvels  and  iA. 
poetry,  as  well  as  graver  works.  In  his  franklin 
Lecture,  addressed,  in  1838,  to  a  large  body  of  me- 
chanics and  men  earning  their  livelihood  "  by  manual 
labour,"  he  says,  **  Books  are  the  true  le^lera, 
jriving  to  all  who  Mill  faithfully  use  them  the  society 


\ 


f^-'i  -  J-vyfy-T,'V  i  Vf;i^Vf^ 


Chap.  XI.]  EDUCATIONAL  MOVE|t^NT.  197 

and  apirituakj^resence  of  th^  best  and  greatest  of  our 
race;  so  that  ^"''individual  may  be  excluded  from 
what  is  called  g^od  8o6iety,  and^et  not  pifie  for 
want  of  intellectual  companionsKip."* 

When  I  asked  how  it  happened  that  in  so  populous' 
.  and  rich  a  city  as  Boston,  thei;e  yvas  at  present  (Oc- 
tober, 1845)  no  regular  theatre,  I  was  told,  among  J 
;  other  reasons,  that   if  I  went   into  the   houses   of 
persons  of  the  middle  and  even  humbfest  class,  Y 
should  often   find  the  father  o»  a  faiSly,  in^ead 
of  seeking-^citement  in  a  shilling  gallery,  rSd- 
^  ing  to  his  wife  and  four  or  five  children  one  of 
^  the  best  modem  novels,  which  he  has  purchased  for 
twenty-five  cents ;  whereas,  if  they  could  all  have  left 
home,  he  could  ^ot  for  many  times  that  sum  have 
takep  them  to  the  play.     They  often  buy,  in  two  or      ' 
thr>e.  successive   numbers   of  a   penny  newspaper, 
enti^  reprints  of  thrtales'of  Dickens,  Bulwer,  or 
other  popular  writers.     . 
Dana,  now  a  lawyer  in  Boston,  and  whose  ac^' 
.    quaintance  I  ^ad  the  pleasure  of  maknig  there,  has,  in 
^  his  singularly  interesting,  and  original  work,  entitled 
"  Two  Years  before  the  Mast,"  not  pnly  disclosed 
to  us  a  lively  picture  of  Jife  in  the  forecastle,  but 
has  shown  incidentaUy"how  much  a  crew,  composed     \ 
of  the  most  unpromising  materials,  rough  »nd  illite- 
rate, and  recruited  at  random  from  the  merchant 
service  of  different  nations,  could  be  improyecj  by 
associating    on    equal    terms    with    a   single   well^ 
educated  messmate.     He  was  able,  on  one  of  the 


y 


♦  Channing,  vol.  ii.  p.  378. 
B—  t  3    -. —    


.;■•'  » 


.  „.*V;- 


*: 


• 


I 


''•??>'^«^v«4v  r*?  "*■,  '1  ' 


■  J-^  t"*^,''^  ■«  «?***, 


19» 


ieOFULAB  LBCTUBES. 


few  hoKdftys  which  were  granted  to  them  m  Cali*. 
fornia  by  th<f  nnost  tyrannical  of  captains,  to  keep 
them  from  going  ashore,  where  they  would  have 
mdulged  in  dissipation,  by  reading  to  them  for  houn 
Scott's  historical  tale  of  "Woodstock."    "We  ought 
scarcely,  th^n,  to  wonder,  after  what  I  have  sa»l 
of  the  common  schools  of  this  city,  that  CTowded^ 
audtenc^  should  be  drawn  night  after  nigjit,  thioi      * 
the  whole  winter,  in  spite  of  frost  and  snow,  from\«^ 
class  of  labourers  and  mechanics;  mingled  with  those 
of  higher  station,  to  listen  with  deep  interest  to 
lectures  on  ^natural  theology,  zoology,  geology,  the 
writings  of  Shakspeaye,  the  beauties  of  "Pwadise 
Ifost,"  the  peculiar  excellencies  of  "Comus"  and 
«  Lycidas,"  treated  in  an  elevated  style  by  men  who 
would  be  hea^ith  pleasure  by-^^most  refined^ 
^audiences  in  I^aSdon.      , 

Still,  however,  I  hear  many  complaints  that  there 
is  a  want  of  public  amusements  to  give  relief  to  the 
minds  of  the  multitude,  whose  daily  employments 
are  so  monotonpus  that  they  require,  far  more  than 
the  rich,  opportunities  of  innocent  recreation,  isack  as 
concerts,  dancing,  and  the  theatre  mighlgiye^  under 
proper  regulations;  for  these  are^ow^usually  die- 
couraged  by  relLgonists,  who  c»»^!Hy»ther  su 
stitute  for  them^ut  sermons  ""i|MfB|i  chur 
services.  JftBiif^  "*>■»'■-- 

Among  the  signs  of  the  tunes,  and  of  the  increasing 

teite  for  reading,  the  gr^t  number  of  lending  Kbrariet 

'-  *^0  school  districts  must  not  be  forgotten.    Towards 

Purchase  of  these,  the  State  grants  a  certain  sum, 

eq^ftfeSD^ount  be  subscribed  by  the  inhabitants. 


<3«^.XI.]  MMMVlSfQ  LWBABIBg.  ^      I99 

They  are  left  to  their  own  choice  in  the  purolmse  of 
books;  and  the  best  English  poets  and  novelists  are 
ahnost  always  to  be  met  with  in  each  coUection,  and 
works  of  biography,  history,  travels;  natural  history, 
•sand  science.  The  Selection  is  carefuUy  made  with 
reference  to  what  the  people  will  read,  and  not  what 
men  of  higher  education  or  station  think  they  ought 
to  read.  „     ^  , 


...  > 


<  » 


>^ 


■<ff>-^ 


m 


dE^fc 


% 


V    • 


■■*•  '*, 


.200 


■  POPULAK  EPDCATION.  [Chap.  Xlt 


*% 


■     '  •  CHAP.  XII. 

It  «ra,  natunJl^  td  be  apprehended  that  i„  a  pure  de 
mocracy,  or  „horo  tke  sufTrage  i,  nearly  univerad  the" 
patronage  of  the  St^te  .ouhl  bealmoft  en. Iw  ;»' 
fined  to  providing  mean,  for  mere  primary  educatb^ 
Bueh  as  rea.ling,  writing,  apd  ciphering. "^ButtTh 
.-  .a  not  the  ea»e  in  Maaaaehu,etts,  ^thoufh  the  an  "  1 
grants  rnade  t„  the  thrc.  Uni^raitirof  nr::;' 
An-herat,  and  Williama,are  now  beeoming  inadZat' 
"  he  growing  wants  of  a  „,ore  advanced  eoltunUr 
nd  atrenuou,  exertions  are  making  to  enl   ^r^' 
I"  the  mean  t,me.  private  bequest,  and  donalir^ 
have  of  late  yea™  ^ured  in  u^on  Ilarv  Jw 


CHiP.  XIl.]  MUSmcENT   BEQUESTS.  201 

«ity  from  year  to  year,  dome  of  them  on  a  trulv 
mun.6cent.cale.     Since  my  first  visit  to  Cambr fe"^ 

ohemiatry  have  been  founded.    There  was  pre^;,^v 
a  oonaidcrahle  staff  for  the  teaching  of  ^^0 

ment  for  cngmeenng,  natural  philosophy,  chemistrv 

apphca. on  to  the  arts,  has  been  instituted      On    •" 

tt:  prime^nf":"  ^''"-''™'  »  Sent'eman  stm   „ 

IW  000  I  I  ''.or  """W''"'*'!  "0  "e»«  a  eum  than 
100,000  dollars  (20,000  guineas)  towards  the  sup- 
port  of  thjs  department.     One  of  the  new  chairs   s 

Zl!!n    V    ?         T'  "^  *■"=  ■'«•'<=«'  European  re- 
putafon.  Professor  Agassiz.      A  splendid  bequest 

«!«.,  of  equal  amount  (100,000  dollars),  has  recently 

been  made  to  the  Cambridge  Observatory,  for  Xh 

he  country  had  already  obtaincl.  at  g^t  e™.   a 

large  telescop.3,  which  has  resolved  the  |rea    nTbtla 

m  Or.on,  and  has  enabled  the  astro„„„,er,  Mr.  Bond 

s,mn  taneously  with  an  English  observe;  Mr.  W 

sell,  to  discover  a  new  satellite  of  Saturn. 

Ihat  the  State,  however,  will  „„t  bo  checked  by 

W  narrow  utditarian  views  in  its  patronage  of  the 

un.vers,ty„„d  the  higher  Jcpart„.onts  of  literatue 

and  scenec,  wo  may  confidently  infer,  from  the  gram! 

made  .0  long  ago  a,   March,  18,10,  by  thrf  S 

.«:^'et"::d  f  ^'t't"--^-  ■""«™-S 

"urvey,  and  for  geological,  botanical,  and  ^xwlogieal 
«p  orafons  of  the  country,  executed  by  men  wh^ 
pubhshe  reports  prove  them  to  have  been  worthyTf 
the  trust.     It  was  to  be  expected  that  .„„,„  .,i„ 


K   5 


'M, 


\ 


202 


PATRONAGE  OP   SCIENCE.       [Chap.  XII. 


gogues  would  attempt  to  persuade  the  people  that 
such  an  expenditure  of  public  money  waa  profligate 
in  the  extreme,  and  that  aa  the  universities  have 
a  dangeroitfi  aristocratic  tendency,  so  these  liberal 
appropriations  of  funds  for  scientific  objects  were  an 
evidenc©  that  the  Whig  party  were  willing  to  indulge 
the  fancies  of  the  few  at  the  charge  of  the  many. 
Accordingly,  one  orator  harangued  the  fishermen  of 
Cape  Cod,  on  this  topic,  saying  {hat  the  government 
had  paid  1500  dollars  out  of  the  Treasury,  to  re-,^, 
munerate  Dr.  Storer — for  what?  for  giving  Latin 
names  to  some  of  the  best  known  fish ;  for  chrisV^lf-*^  ' 
ing  the  common  cod  Morrhua  americana,  the  shad 
Alosa  vulgaris,  and  the  fall  herring  Clupea  vulgaris. 
His  electioneering  tactics  did  not  sucpeed ;  but  might 
they  not  have  gained  him  many  votes  in  certain  Eng- 
lish constituencies?  Year  after  year,  subsequently 
to  1837,  the  columns  of  "the  leading  journal"  of 
Great  Britain  were  filled  with  attacks  in  precisely 
the  same  style  of  low  and  ignorant  ridicule  against  the 
British  Association,  and  the  memoirs  of  some  of  the 
ablest  writers  in  Europe  on  natural  history  and 
science,  who  were  assailed  with  vulgar  abuse.  Such 
articles  would  not  have  been  repeated  so  [Mirseveringly, 
nor  have  found  an  echo  in  the  *'  British  Critic"  and 
several  magaziijes,  had  they  not  found  sympathy  in 
the  minds  of  a  largo  class  of  readers,  who  ought,  by 
their  station,  to  have  been  less  prejudiced,  and  who, 
in  reality,  have  no  bigoted  aversion  to  aoionoo  itself, 
but  aimply  dread  the  effects  of  its  diaseminatiou 
among  the  people  at  large. 

It  is  remarkable  that  a  writer  of  such  gcniua  and 


difci 


I^^Bi^S 


sa^s^^^SBisaas^is 


^^SSB^S^ 


Chap.  XII;]  CHANNING  ON  MILTON. 


203 


80  enlarged  a  mind  as  Channlng,  who  was  always 
aiming  to  furnish  the  multitude  with  sources  of  im 
provement  and  recreation,  should  have  dwelt  so  little 
on  the  important  part  which  natural  history  and  the 
physical  sciences  might  play,  if  once  the  tastes  of  the 
million  were  turned  to  tlieir  study  and  cultivation. 
From  several  passages  in  his  worksjifit  is  evident  that 
he  had  never  been  imbued  with  the  slightest  know- 
ledge or  feeling  for  such  pursuits ;  and  this  is  appa- 
rent even  in  Bis  splendid  essay  on  Milton,  one  of  the 
most  profound,  brilliant,  and  philosophical  disserta- 
tions in  the  English  language.  Dr.  Johnson,  while 
he  had  paid  a  just  homage  to  the  transcendent  genius 
of  the  great  poet  and  the  charms  of  his  verse,  had 
allowed  his  party  feelings  and  bigotry  to  blind  him 
to  all  that  was  pure  and  exalted  in  Milton's  character. 
Channing,  in  his  vindication,  pointed  out  tow  John- 
son, with  all  his  strength  of  thought  and  reverence 
for  virtue  and  religion,  his  vigorous  logic  and  prac- 
tical wisdom,  wanted  enthusiasm  and  lofty  sentiment. 
Hence,  his  passions  engaged  him  in  the  unworthy 
task  of  obscuring  the  brighter  glory  of  one  of  the 
best  and  most  virtuous  of  men.  But  die  American 
champion  of  the  illustrious  bard  fails  to  remark  that 
Milton  was  also  two  centuries  in  advance  bf  the  age 
in  which  he  lived,  in  his  appreciation  of  the  share 
which  the  study  of  nature  ought  to  hold  in  the  train- 
ing of  tiie  youthful  mind.  Of  Milton's  scheme  for 
enlarging  the  ordinary  system  of  touching,  proposed 
after  ho  had  himself  been  practically  engaged  in  the 
task  UH  a  schoolmaster,  the  lexicographer  ipoke,  m 
might  Iiave  boon  anticipated,  in  terms  of  disparage- 


aaa^tiMaaaaaaa^ttiBiB^^ 


204 


W'Wt 


DR.   JOHNSON. 


[Chap.  XII 


ment  bordering  on  contempt.  He  treated  Milton, 
in  fact,  as  a  mere  emj)iric  and  visionary  projector, 
observing  that  "  it  'was  his  pui-pose  to  teach  boys 
something  more  solid  than  the  common  literature  of 
schools,  by  reading  those  authors  that  treat  of  physical 
subjects."--"  The  poet  Cowley  had  formed  a  similar 
plan  in  his  imaginary  college ;  but  the  knowledge  of 
external  nature,  and  the  sciences  which  that  knowledge 
requires,  are  not  the  great  or  the  frequent  business  of 
the  human  mind;  and  we  ought  not,"  he  adds,  «  to 
turn  off  attention  from  life  to  narfre,  as  if  we  were 
placed  here  to  watch  the  growth  of  plants,  or  the 
motions  of  the  stars." 

That  a  violent  shock  had  been  given  in  the  sixteenth 
century  to  certain  time-honoured  dogmas,  by  what  is 
here  slightingly  called  «  watching  the  motions  of  the 
stars,"  was  an  historical  fact  with  which  Johnson  was 
of  course  familiar;   but  if  it  had  been  adduced ^o 
prove  that  they  who  exercise  their  reasoning  jiff^ff^ 
in  interpreting  the  great  book  of  nature;  are  con- 
stantly arriving  at  new  truths,  and  occasionially  re- 
quired    to    modify   preconceived   opinions,    or   that 
when   habitually  engaged   in   such   discipline,  they 
often   acquire    indei)endent   habits   of  thought,   ap- 
plicable  to   other  departments  of  human   learning, 
such  arguments  would  by  no  means  have  propitiated 
the  critic,  or  have  induced  him  to  moderate,  his  dis- 
approbation of  the   proposed   innovations.      In  the 
mind  of  Johnson  there  was  a  leaning  to  superstition, 
and  no  one  was  more  content  to  leave  the  pupil  to 
tread  for  ever  in  beaten  paths,  and  to  cherish  extreme 
reverence  for  authority,  for  which   end   the  whole 


-,^- 


Chap.  XII,] 


TREE   SCHOOLS. 


205 


system  then  in  vogue  in  the  English  schools  and 
colleges  was  admirably  conceived.  For  it  confined 
the  studies  of  young  men,  up  to  the  age  of  twenty- 
two,  as  far  as  possible  to  the  non-progressive  depart- 
ments of  knowledge,  to  the  ancient  models  of  classickl 
excellence,  whether  in  poetry  or  prose,  to  theoloo-ical 
treatises,  to  the  history  and  philosophy  of  the  ancFents 
rather  than  the  moderns,  and  to  pure  mathematics 
,  •  rather  than  their  application  to  physics.  No  modern 
writer  was  more  free  from  fear  of  inquiry,  more 
anxious  to  teach  the  millions  to  think  and  reason  for 
themselves,  no  one  ever  looked  forward  more  enthu- 
/  siastically  to  the  future  growth  and  development  of 

the  human  mind,  than  Channing.  If  his  own  edu- 
cation had  not  been  cast  in  an  antique  mould,  he 
would  have  held  un  Milton  as  a  model  for  imitation, 
not  only  for  his  love  of  classical  lore  and  poetry, 
but  for  his  wish  to  cultivate  a  knowledge  of  the ' 
works  of  nature. 

Certainly  no  people  ever  started  with  brighter 
prospects  of  uniting  the  promotion  of  both  these  de- 
partments, than  the  people  of  New  England  at  this 
moment.  Of  the  free  schools  whicli  they  have 
founded,  and  the  plan  of  education  adopted  by  tliem 
for  cliildren  of  all  sects  and  stations  in  society,  they 
foel  justly  proud,  for  it  is  the  most  original  thin.r 
which  America  has  yet  produced.  The  causes  of 
tiieu-  extraordinary  success  and  recent  progress,  well 
deserve  more  attention  than  they  have  usually  re- 
ceived from  foreigners,  especially  as  it  seems  singular 
ttt  first  sight,  and  almost  paradoxical,  that  a  6ommou. 
wca|th  founded  by  the  Puritans,  whom  we  a^e  ac- 


/  206  ORIGIN   OF  FREE   SCHOOLS.         [Chap.  XII. 

customed  to  regard  as  the  enemies  of  polite  literature 
and  science,  should  now  take  s6  prominent  a  lead  as 
the  patrons  of  both ;  or  that  a  sect  which  was  so  prone 
to  bibliolatry  that. they  took  their  pattern  and  model 
of  civil  gov^ernment,  and  even  their  judicial  code,  from 
the  Old  Testament,  who  carried  their  theory  of  the 
union  of  Church  and  State  so  far  as  to  refuse  the 
civ^  franchise  to  all  who  were  not  in  Hfull  commu- 
nion' with  their  Church,  and  who  persecuted  for  a 
time  some  nonconformists,  even  to  the  death,  should 
nevertheless  have  set  an  example  to  the  world  of  reli- 
,'     gious  toleration,  and  have  been  the  first  to  estabhsh 
schools  for  popular  education  open  to  the  children  of 
all  denominations — Romanist,  Protestant,  and  Jew. 
>•        If  any  one  entertains  a  doubt  that  the  peculiar 
character   stamped  upon  the  present  generation  of 
New  Englanders,  in  relation  to  religious  and  political 
affairs,  is  derived  directly  and  indisputably  from  "their 
Puritan  ancestors,  let  them  refer  to  the  history  of 
Massachusetts.      According    to    the   calculation   of 
Bancroft,  ^e  first  Puritan  settlers  of  New  England 
are  the  parents  of  one-third  of  the  whole  white  popu- 
lation of  the  United  States.     Within  the  first  fifteen 
years   (and   there   never   was   afterwards   any  con- 
siderable increase  from  England)  tliere  came  over    ' 
21,200  persons,  or  4000  families.     Their  descend- 
ants, he  says,  are  now  (1840)  not  far  from  4,000,000. 
,     Each  family  has  multiplied  on  the  average  to  1000 
souls,  and  they  have  carried  to  New  York  and  Ohio, 
where  they  constitute  half  tlft  population,  th^  Puritan 
system  of  free  schools,  which  they  established  from  the 
.     beginning.     When  we  recollect  that  the  population 


•" 


3.        [Chap.  XII. 


Chap.  XII.]         FIRST  PURITAN  SETTLERS.  207 

of  all  England  is  computed  to  have  scarcely  exceeded 
five  millions  when  the  chief  body  of  the  Puritans  first 
emigrated  to  the  New  World,  we  may  look  upon  the 
present  descendants  of  the  first  colonists  as  con- 
stituting a  nation  hardly  inferior  in  numbers  to  what 
England  itself  was  only  two  centuries  before  odr 
times.  The  development,  therefore,  of  the  present 
inhabitants  from  a  small  original  stock  has  been  so 
i^apid,  and  the  intermediate  generations  so  few,  that 
we  must  be  quite  prepared  to  discover,  in  the  founders 
of  the  colony  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  germ  of 
all  the  wonderful  results  which  have  since  so  rapidly 
unfolded  themselves. 

Kor  is  this  difficult.     In  the  first  place,  before  the 
great  civil  war  broke  out  in  England,  when  the  prin- 
cipal emigration  took  place   to  Massachusetts,  the 
Puritans  were  by  no  means  an  illiterate  or  uncul- 
tivated sect.     They  reckoned  in  their  ranks  a  con- 
siderable number  of  men  of  good  station  and  family, 
who   had    received    the   best   education   which   the 
schools  and  universities  then  afforded.     Some  of  the 
most  influential  of  the  early  New  England  divines, 
such  as  Cotton  Mather,  were  good  scholars,  and  have 
leftjKritings  which  display  much  reading  and  an  ac- 
quaintance with    the  Greek   and  Latin   languages. 
Milton's  «  Paradise  Lost "  usually  accompanied  the 
Bible  into  the  log-houses  of  the  early  settlers,  and 
with  the  "Paradise  Lost"  the  minor  poems  of  the 
same  author  were  commonly  associated. 

The  Puritans  who  first  went  into  exile,  after  en- 
during much  oi)prcKsIon  in  their  native  country,  were 
men  who  were  ready  to  bravo  the  wilderness  rather 


i 


208  SCHOOLS  FOUNDEt>  IN  [Chap.  XII. 

than  profess  doctrines  or  conform  to  a  ritual  which 
they  abhorred.     They  were  a  pure  and  conscientious 
body.     They  might    be   ignorant  or   fanatical,  but 
they  were  at  least  sincere,  and  no  hypocrites  had  as 
yet  been  tempted  to  join  them  for  the  sake  of  worldly 
promotion,  as  happened  at  a  later  period,  when  Puri- 
tanism in  the  mother  country  had  become  dominant 
in  the  State.     Full  of  faith,  and  believing  that  their 
religious  tenets  must  be  strengthened  by  free  inves- 
tigation  they  held  that  the  study  and  interpretation 
ot  the  Scriptures  should  not  be  the  monopoly  of  a 
particular  order  of  men,  but  that  every  layman  was 
bound  to  search  them  for  himself.     Hence  they  were 
anxious  to  have  all  their  children  taught  to  read 
bo  early  as  the  year  1647,  they  instituted  common 
schools,  the   law  declaring  « that  all   the  brethren 
Bhall  teach  their  children  and  apprentices  to  read, 
and  that  every  township  of  fifty  householders  shall 
appomt  one  to  teach  all  the  children."* 

Very  different  was  the  state  of  things  in  the  con- 
temporary colony  of  Virginia,  to  which  the  Cavaliers 
and  the  members  of  the  Established  Church  were 

WMr"^"^;  i^r^"  ^^'''°  "'  '^^"*y  y^^^'  l^ter.  Sir 
Wilham  Berkeley,  who  was  Governor  of  Virginia  Vor 
nearly  forty  years,  and  was  one  of  the  best. of  The  colo- 
nial rulers,  spoke  thus,  in  the  full  sincerity  of  his  heart 
of  his  own  province,  in  a  letter  written  after  the 
restoration  of  Charles  II. :  -  «  I  thank  God  there  are 
no  free  schools  or  printing,  and  I  hope  we  shall  not 
have  them  these  hundred  years.     For  learning  has 

*  Bancroft,  vol.  i,  p.  458. 


i-^-o 


Chap.  XII.]    THE   SEVENTEENTI[   CENTURY.  209 

brought  heresy  and  disobedience  and  sects  into  the 
world,  and  printing  has  divul^;ed  them,  and  libels 
against  the  best  government, 
both!"* 

Sir  William  Berkeley  was  siLly  expressing  here, 
m  plam  terms,  the  chief  motiveii  which  still  continue 
to  defeat  or  retard  the  cause  c  f  popular  education 
in  some  parts   of  the  United    States  and  in  many 
countries   of    Europe,  Englanc     not   excepted  -  a 
dread  of  political  change  while    the   people  remain 
m  Ignorance,  and  a  fear  of  removing  that  ignorance 
lest  It  should  bring  on  changes  of  religious  opinion. 
Ihe  New  Englanders  were  frcm  the  beginning  so 
republican  in  spirit,  that  they  were  not  likely  to  share 
Governor  Berkeley's  apprehensions  of  a  growing  dis- 
like to  « the  best  of  government  J,"  as  he  termed  the 
political  maxims  of  the  Stuarts ;  and  if,  for  a  time 
they  cherished  hopes   of  preserving   uniformity  of 
rehgious   opinion,  and  even-  persecuted   some   who 
would  not  conform  to  thejy-  vie  ivs,  their  intblerance 
was  of  short  duration,  and  soon  gave  way  to  those 


religious    freedom 


enlightened   views  of  civil    and   , 

which  they  had  always  professed,  even  wher7h"ey 
failed  to  carry  them  into  practice. 

If  we  contrast  the  principles  before  alluded  to  of 
the  leading  men  in  Massachuset  ;s  with  those  of  the 
more  southern  settlers,  in  the  ear  y  part  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  we  learn  withoui  surprise  that  at  a 
time  when  there  was  not  one  bookseller's  shop  in 
Virginia  and  no  printing  presses,  there  were  several 
in  Boston,  witt  no  less  than  fivj  printing-offices,  a 


*  Chalmers,  cited  b/  Graham,  Hi«t.  ol 


U.  S.,  vol.  i.  p.  103. 


% 


l  n 


2in 

PASTOEKOBINSON.  [Chip.  XII. 

fact  which  reflects  the  more  credit  on  the  Puritans' 
be^nse  at  the  same  period  (1724)  there  were™  less' 
a>an  thirty-four  counties  in  the  mother  country, 
WashTe  bemg  one  of  the  number,  in  which  the« 
was  no  printer.*  ^'  ^ 

the  Mayflower  from  Leyden,  a  solemn  fast  was  held 
before  they  embarked,  and  their  pastor,  Eobinson 
^ve  them  a  farewell  address,  in  which  these  memo-' 
rable  words  are  recorded :  —  V 

"  I  cha>^e  you,  before  God  and  his  bleli  angels, 
that  you  follow  me  no  further  than  you  1,^0  seen 
me  follow  the  Lord  ^esus  Christ.  The  UrfZ 
more  truth  yet  to  break  forth  out  of  his  holy  word 
For  my  part,  I  cannot  suflioiently  bewail  the  condi^ 
tion  of  the  reformed  churches.,  who  are  eome  to  a 

Z^thT-  "'^""''  '"•^7"'  go^P-aent  no  further 
than  the  mstruments  of  tlieir  first  reformation.  The 
LutherM,s  cannot  be  drawn  to  go  beyond  what  Luther 

mlrt  J     7"  P",'  f  "''  "'"  0"  8ood  God  has 
imparted  and  revealed  unto  Calvin,  they  will  die 
rather  than  embrace  it.     And  the  Calvinists,  you 
see,  stick  fast  where  they  were  left   by  that  great 
'man  of  God,  who  yet  saw  not  ajl  things.     This  is  a 
misefy  much  to  be  lamented ;  for,  though  they  were 
burmng  and  shining  lights  in  their  times,  yet  thev 
penetrated  not  into  the  whole  counsel  of  God  •  but 
were  they  now  living,  they  would  be  as  willing  to  em- 
brace further  light  as  that  which  they  first  received.  I 

Nichfr"'"''  '"""'  "'  England,  vol.  i.  p.  392,  ,h„  ,i^. 


L; 


MMil 


392,  who  cites 


Chap.  XII.]       PROGRESS  IN  RELIGION.  h       211 

beseech  you  to  remember  it;  it  is  an  article  of  your 
church-covenant,  that  you  xyiU  be  readjl  to  receive 
whatever  truth  shall  be  made  known  unto  you  (fom 
the  written  word  of  Qod.  Remember  that  and  every 
other  article  of  your  most  sacred  covenant." 

It  may  be  said  that  the  spirit  of  progress,  the  belief 
in  the  future  discovery  of  new  truths,  and  the  ex- 
pansion of  Christianity,  which  breathes  through  every 
passage  of  this  memorable  discourse,  did  not  cha-   ^ 
racterise  the  New  England  Independents  any  more  ♦ 
than  the  members  of  other  sects.    Like  the  rest,  they 
had  embodied  their  interpretations  of  Scripture  in 
certam  fixed  and  definite  propositions,  and  were  but 
httle  disposed  to  cherish  the  doctrine  of  the  gradual 
development   of  Christianity.     The  Romanists  had 
3ta|(|)ed  short   at  the   council  of  Trent,  when  the 
decrees  of  a  general  council  w4re  canonized  by  the 
sanction  df  an  infallible  Pope.    In  like  manner,  almost 
every  Protestant  church  has    acted   as  if  religion 
ceased  to  be  progressive  at  the  precise  moment  of 
time  when"  their  own  articles  of  belief  were  drawn 
up,  after  much  dispute  and  difference  of  opinion. 

But  the  precepts  inculcated  by  Pastor  Robinson 
were  deUvered  to  a  body  of  men  whose  form  of  eccle- 
siastical polity  was  very  pecuUar;  who  held  that 
each  congregation,  each  separate  society  of  fellow- 
worshippers,  constituted  within  themselves  a  perfect 
and  independent  church,  whose  duty  it  was  to  com- 
pose for  itself  and  modify  at  pleasure  its  rules  of 
scriptural  interpretation.  In  conformity  with  these 
ideas,  the  common  law  of  New  England  had  ruled, 
that  the  majority  of  the  pew-holders  in  each  church 


212  NO  PENALTIES  FOR  DISSENT.    [Chap.  Xtl.' 

•Should   retain   their  property   in  «  meetinghouse, 
and  any  endowment  belonging  to  it,  whatever  new 
vopmion,  they  might,  in  the  course  of  time,  choose  to 
adopt      In  other,  wordsi  if,  in  the  lapse  ot  ages,  they 
.   should  deviate  from  the  original  standard  of  faith, 
^  they  should  nt>t  suffer  the  usual  penalties^  of  dissent,, 
by  being  dispossessed  of  the  edifice  in  which  they 
^ere  accustomed  to  worsliip,  or  of  any  endowments 
given,  or  bequeathed  for  a  school-house  or  the  sup, 
port  of  a  pastor,  but  should  continue  to  hold  them; 
the  mmority  who  still  held  fast  to  the  original  tenets 
of  the  sect,  having  to  seek  a  new  place  of  worship, 
but  being  allowed  to  dispose  of  their  pews,  as  of 
every  other  freehold,  if  purchasers  could  be  found. 

Jivery  year  in  some  parts  of  New  England,  where 
the  population  is  m  the  increase,  the  manner  in  which 
some  one  of  these  new  congregations  starts  into  ex- 
istence may  be  seen.    A  few  individuals,  twenty  per- 
haps,  are  m  the  habit  of  meeting  together  on  the 
sabbath  ma  private  dwelling,  or  in  the  school-house 
already  bui  t  for  the  children  of  all  denominations  in 
the  new  village.     One  of  the  number  offers  a  prayer, 
another  reads   a   chapter  in   tlie   Bible,  another  a 
printed  sermon,  and  perhaps  a  fourth  offers  remarks, 
by  way  of  exhortation,  to  his  neighbours.     As  the 
population  increases,  they  begin  to  think  of  forming 
themeelves  into  a  church,  and  settling  a  minister 
Hut  first  they  have  to  agree  upon  some  creed  or 
covenant  which  is  to  be  the  basis  of  their  union.     I„ 
drawing  up  this  creed  they  are  usually  assisted  by 
some  neighbouring  minister,  and  it  is  then  submitted 
for  approbation  to  a  meeting  of  all  the  church  mem. 


'  sW.'s;  V  •  >p— 


■<*jf#^  •' 


y^  '      ■"  "wqw  *^TV 


5ENT.     [CHAP.Xti; 


Chap.  XII.]    CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCHES.     "  213 

bers,  and  is  thoroughly  discussed  and  altered  till  it 
^  suits  the  peculiar  and  prevailing  shades  of  opinion  of 
-the  assembly.  When  at  length  it  is  assented  to,  it  is 
submitted  to  a  council  of  neighbouring  ministers,  who 
examine  mto  its  scriptural  basis,  and  who,  accordin<r 
as  they- approve  or  disapprove  of  it,  give  or  withhold 

the  hand  of  fellowship." 
.  The  next  step  is  to  elect  a  pastor.  After  hearing 
several  candidates  preach,  th6y  invite  one  to  remain 
with  them;  and,  after  he  has  been  ordained  by  the 
neighbouring  ministers,  agree  on  the  salary  to  be  in- 
sured to  him,  for  the  collection  of  which  certain 
members  become  responsible.     It  rarely  exceeds  700 

Tn^rJr^  ""^'^  "'"'""^  ^™^"°*^  i^  ^"^^  districts 
to  500  dollars,  or  100  guineas  annually. 

By  the  Congregationalists,  a  church  is  defined  to  be 
a  company  of  pious  persons,  who  voluntarily  unite 
together   for  the  worship  of  God.     Each  company 
being  self-created,  is  entirely  independent  of  every 
other,  has  the  power  to  elect  its  own  officers,  and  to 
admit  or  exclude  members.     Each  professes  to  re- 
gard creeds  and  confessions  of  faith  simply  as  conve- 
nient guides  in  the  examination  of  candidates,  not 
standards   of  religious   truth.       They   may  be   the 
opinions  of  good  and  wise  men,  venerable  by  their 
antiquity,  but,  of  no  binding  authority,  and  are  to  be 
measured  m  each  separate  church  by  their  confor- 
mity with  Scripture.     As  to  the  union  of  different 
churches,  it  is  purely  voluntary,  and  lias  been  com 
pared  to  a  congress  of  sovereign  states,  having  cei- 
tain  general  interests  in  common,  but  entirely  inde- 
pendent of  each  other.      There  are  no  articles  of 

J 


■m;' 


u 


214  C0NGRI;GATI0NAL   churches.     [Chap.  X it. 

union ;  but  if  any  old  or  new  society  is  thought  to" 
depart  so  widely  from  the  other  churches  that  they 
.   can  no  longer  be  recognised  as  Christian,  the  rest 
withhald  OK  withdraw  their  fellowship. 

Upon    the    whole,    the    separate    congregational 
churches,  both  in  Old  and  New  England,  in  all  above 
3000  m  number,  have  held  together  more  firmly  for 
two  centuries,  and  have  deyfefted  far  less  from  the 
origmal  standard  of  faith,  than  might  have  been  ex- 
pected; although  in  Massachusetts  and  some  neigh- 
bourmg  States,  more  than  a  hundred  meeting-houses, 
some  of  |;hem  having  endowments  belonging  to  them' 
have  ii^  the  course  of  the  last  forty  years  been  quietly 
transferr^a,  by  the  majority  of  the  pew-holders,  to  ^ 
what  may  be  said  to  constitute  new  denominations. 
The  change  usually  takes  place  when  a  new  minister 
18  mducted.     This  system  of  ecclesiastical  polity  is 
peculiariy   repugnant   to   the   ideas   entertained   by 
churchmen  in  general,  whose  efforts  are  almost  in- 
variably directed,  whether  in  Protestant  or  Komanist 
communities,  to  inculcate  a  deep  sense  of  the  guilt  of 
«chism,  and  to  visit  that  guilt  as  far  as  possible  with 
pecuniary   penalties   and   spiritual   outlawry.      The 
original  contract  is  usually  based  on  a  tacit  assump- 
tion  that   religion    is   not,  like   other    branches   of 
knowledge,  pr^reseive  in  its  nature  ;  and„therefore, 
instead  of  leaving  the  mind  unfettered  and  free  to 
embrace  and  profess  new  interpretations,  as  Would  be 
thought  desirable  where  the  work,  of  God  are  the 
snbjccts  of  investigation,  every  precaution  is  taken  to 
prevent  doubt,  fluctuation,  and  change.     It  is  even 
Ucomcd  justifiable  to  exact  early  vows  and  pledges 


riWI 


CHES.     [Cb«p.  XII. 


CiP.XII.]    COTOEEGATIONAL   CHDECHES.  215 

ag^net  tie  teaching  of  any  new  doetrine, ;  and  if  the 
«eaIou,  ,„,„,^,  ,h„„y^  i^  j^^  J^  of  yel^»d 
much  reading,  catch  glin,pse,  of  truths  not  eXdW 
m  his  creed,  nay,  the  veiy  gi^unds  of  which  ^dd 

no  t^the™""- '">'';"'  "''"  ""^  ™*''^<'  *'■<'  <=>•"-' 
nor  to  the  onginal  framers  of  his  articles  of  religion 

no  provision  is  made  for  enabling  him  to  break  III^' 

or  openly  to  declare  that  he  h,^  modLdts    Lw  ' 

On_the  contmry,  such  a  step  must  usually  h4  attlndcd 

with  disgrace,  and  often  with  destitution 

-ngiy  in  belies  wS-disirc-oM':^:?,: 

ments  as  in  those  establishments  themselves.  We  let 
for  example,  took  the  utmost  care  that  eveiy  mIS 
chapel  should  be  so  vested  in  the  "  Geneml  Con 

to  Uie  trustees,  if  any  particular  congregation  should 

fuTt  :rru'  T'"'  °f  f"'""'  -  --  «  "ould  r^ 
um  to  the  Church  of  England,  whose  doctrines  they 
had  never  renounced.  But  the  most  signal  in  t  nee 
of  a  fixed  determination  to  prevent  anvnn. 
gation  from  changing  its  IZ  Lj^Tl^Z 
dogma  or  rite,  until  all  the  others  assS^^,  wit  1 

Sr  ;ru  anTmiln't  '^  ^'f  "^ 
^ddenly  deserted  the  :>:"^:2^L:^,^,!t^Z 
oonipelled    to   abandon    hundred,    of   cUL3 

cnumiood.     borne  of  the«,  edifice,  remaned  ...^.l,. 


216  TABIATIONa    IN    CKEED8.  [CaiP.  XII. 

for  a  time,  locked  up,  and  no  service  performed 
m  them,  because  the  minister  and  nearly  all  the 
parishioners  had  joined  m  the  secession.  It  was 
necessary  (or  the  separatists  to  erect  700  or  800  new 
edifices  and  school-houses,  on  which  they  expended 

sTaT  Vffi "  r'  """""'^  •'™"^''  ■'-"^s  of^"  - 

mall  diftculty  to  obtain  new  sites  for  churches,  so 
hat   tlicr  ministers  preached  for  a  time,  like  the 
Covenanters  of  old,  in  the  open  air.     It  ™  IZ 
these  circumstances,  and  at  the  moment  of  submit- 
ting   o  such  sacrifices,  that  their  ne,v  ecclesiastical 
org«ni.at,on  was  completed,  providing  that  if  rJ 
one  of  several  hundred  congregations  should  hereafter 
deviate,  m  ever  so  sliglit  a  degrec,/rom  any  one  of 
the  numerous  articles  of  faith  d^w^        „,J|    ,  J' 
centuries  ago,  under  the  sanction  of  John  kL,  or 
from    any  one   „f  the   rules   and    forms  of  church 
govcrninent  then  enacted,  they  should  be  dispossesfe 
f  tlic  newly  erected  building,  and  all  funds  thereunto 
'elonging,     IM  „„  „„,„  „„„^^^^  ,^^^_^ 

""I'lyng   the   poss ty  of  any  f„tu,e  change  of 

would  have  been  contributed  by  these  ,,ealons  Prea- 
bytenans.  Nor  have  (hey  acted  inconsistently,  inas- 
.nuch  as  they  are  fully  p„„uaded  that  they  I    theT 

hut  are  snnply  reverting  to  that  pure  and  perfec 
standard  o(  or,ho,loxy  of  the  middle  of  ,he  sixCth 
cen  nry,  from  which  others  have  so  sinfully  a^iZt 
It  IS  only  in  tunes  comparatively  modern,  that  the 
opinion    h,«  g.l„„u   ground  i„    Europe,  an.     very 
recently  in  Seo.h.nd,  that  in  the  setllementof  landed 


I! 


ttii 


Slim 


Chap.  XII.]         VARIATIONS  IN  CREEDS.  217 

propertj   there  should   be  some  limitation   of   th 
power  of  the  dead  over  the  living  anTthT.  .    . 
cannot  be  gifted  with  such  fore^hra,  to    na  H  ^ 

their  own  benpfif   «»•  +v,„*    p  .1  "cute,  lor 

Whether  in  .      '  . ""    *^'  <^<^^rnmhy  at  large. 

Whether,  m  ecclesiastical  matters,  also,  there  should 

of  not  «  few  of  the  higher  clo^  TSJe      OfTl"""" 
one  will  doubt  who  re^embc  oV  "u  ,Z"T 
<lel«te8  i„  both  HouBcs  of  the  BritinhP    r 
1844  •    „„.!  .1  ,  "ntish  Parhament   n 

".>'"ionofi,„f,:rtt;:o:;i;„;'Th:t: 


^ 


218 


CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH/ 


0 
[Chap.  XII. 


Englanders,  that.^  assertion  of  the  independence 
ot  each  separate  congregation,  was  as- great  a  step 
towards  freedom  of  conscience  as  all  that  had  been 
previously  gained   by  Luther's   Reformation;    and 
It  constitutes  one  of  those  characteristics  of  church 
governmenl  in  New  England,  which,  whether  ap^ 
proved  of  or  not,  cannot  with  propriety  be  lost  sight 
of,  when  we  endeavour  to  trace  out  the  sources  of  the 
loye  of  progress,  which  has  taken  so  strong  a  hold  of 
the  public  mind  in  New  England,  and  which  has  so 
much  facilitated  their  plan  of  national  education.    Ta 
show  how  widely  the  spirit  of  their  peculiar  eccle- 
siastical system  has  spread,  I  may  state- tliat  even  the 
Koman  Catholics  have,  in  different  States,  and  in  three 
.  «r  four  cases  (one  of  which  is  stiU  pending,  in  1848-9), 
made  an  appeal  to  the  courts  of  law,  and  endeavoured 
to  avail   themselves  of  the    principle  of  the   Inde- 
l)endent8,  so  that  the  majority  of  a  separate  congre- 
gation should  be  entitled  to  resist  the  appointment 
by  thoir  bishop  of  a  ^priest  to  whom  they  had  strong 
objections.     The  courts  seem  hitherto  to  have  deter- 
mined that,  as  the  building  belonged  to  the  majority 
of  the  pew-holders,  they  might  deal  with  it  as  they 
pleased ;  but  they  have  declined  to  pronounce  any 
opinion  on  points  ofXjcolosiastical  discipline,  leaving 
the  members  of  each  sect  free,  in  this  respect^to  obey 
the  dictates  of  their  own  conscience. 

But  to  exemplify  the  more  regular  working  of  tho 
congregational  polity  within  its  own  legitimate  sphere, 
1  will  mention  a  recent  case  which  came  more  home 
to  xxiy  owji  scientific  pursuits.  A  young  nwn  of 
superior  talent,  with  whom  I  was  acquainted,  who  was 


BCH/      [Cbap.  XII, 


Chap.xii.]  mode  of  wokkito  exemplified.  219 

etopWed  as  a  geologist  in  the  State  survey  of  Penn- 
^ylvajiWj™  desirous  of  becomiug  a  mmiLr  of  the 
Presbytenan^urch  iu  that  Stal;  but,  when  x! 
^.ned  previouW  ordination,  he  was  unable  to  give 
satisfac  ory  answeVs  toquestions  respecting  the  plenary 
msi..rat,on  of  ScnW,  because  he  conldered  sucT 
.,    a  tenet,  when  applied  to  the  tot  chapter  of  Genesis 

'      Sr'"*  T  discojeries.now  Liversaliri 
imtted,  respecting  the  high  antiquity  of  the  earth 
and    he  existence  of  living  beings\n^,he  globe  C 

Xr  '"  T  .^'''  "'^•^'^  ««.did.i  wuf 
Orthodoxy  on  all  other  points  was  fully  admitted;  wl 
then  invited  by  an  Independent  congregation,  in  New 

S"  he"off  T  '"f  •^""=  »d  when'he'^,t 
cept«l  the  offer,  the  other  associated  churches  wcto 
called  upon  to  decide  whether  they  would  TsiBTt 
oriaining  one  who  claimed  the  righ'  to  teach  tey 
h.8  own  views  on  the  question  at  issue.  The  rXZ 
he  congregation  to  elect  him,  whether  the  „  he 
churclips  approved  of  the  doctrine  or  not  was  c™ 

tt     fflr"fj  "™^  '"<"™«°"  "  always  evrnlll" 
the  affiliated  societies,  to  come,  if  p^sible,  to  «I 

amicable  undemanding.     Accordingly,  a  discussio! 

wHh  wL        "  f*:'  '■""P'-«""i""  of  Script„;,  or 

do  tril  f "  "T""' '"  "■"  '■"'*'•  "f  "  Christian,  the 
doctnne  of  complete  and  immediate  inspiration  mav 
or  may  not  be  left  as  an  open  question.  ^ 

homo  of  my  reader,  may  perhaps  exclaim  that  tin,       • 
incident  proves  that  the  Cohgregationalists  „f  New    ' 

the  Church  of  England,  or  even  the  Church  of  U.J 


.    • 


,       22.0  ENGLISH  CHJIRCHMEN.  '        [Chap.  XII. 

,     as  shown  by  Dr.'Wig.eman's  lectures,  in  the  liberality 
ot  their  opinions  on  this  head,  and  that  the  establish- 
ment of  the  true  theory  of  dstronOray  satisfied  the 
•  Protestiint  world,  at  least,  that  the  Bible  was"  never 
intended  as  a  revelation  of  physichl  science.     No 
^       doubt  it  is  most  true,  that  within  the  last  forty  years 
many  distinguished  «^riters   and   dignitaries  of  the 
English   Church   have   expressed   their   belief  very 
openly  in  regard  to  the  earth's  antiquity,  and  the 
leading  truths  Established  by  geology.    "The  Records 
of  Creation,"  published  in  1818,  by  tha  present  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  (Dr.  Sumner),  the  writings  of 
the  present  Dean  of  Westminster  (Dr."  Buckland) 
those  of  the  Dean  of  Llandaff  (Dr.  Conybeare),  and  of 
the  Woodwardian  Professor  of  Cambridge  (The  Rev 
A.  Sedgwick),  and  others,  might  .be  adduced  in  con- 
firmation.    ^11  of  these',  indeed,  have  'been  cited  by 
the  firM  teachers  of  geology  in  America,  especially 
m  the  "orthodox  universities"  of  New  England,  as 
.  countenancing  the  adoption  of  tlieir  new  theories ; 
and  I  have  often  heard  scientific  men  in  America 
express  their  gratitude  to  the  English  Churchmen  for 
the  protection  which,  their  high  authority  afforded 
them  against  popular  prejudices  at  a  critical  moment 
when  many  of  the  State  Legislatures  were  delibe- 
rating whether  they  should  or  should  not  appropriate 
large  sums  of  the  public  money  to  the  promotion  of 
geological  survcyn.     The  point,  however,  under  dis- 
cussion in  the  Congregational'ist  Ciuirch,  to  which'  I  ' 
have  alluded,  is  in  reality  a  different  one,  and  of  the 
utmost  importance ;  for  it  is  no  less  than  to  determine, 
not  whether  a  minister  iiMiy  publish  books  or  essays 
declaratory  of  his  own  individual  views,  respecting 


CHiP.  XII]         ON  PHYSICAL   8CIEKCE.  221 

Uie. bearing  of  physical  science  on  certain  portions  of 

-     !n  T  °^  "*»fr"0°'  fr<>ely  and  candidly  e/pound  to 
a^l  whom  he  addresses^ich  and  poor,  from  tClZh 
th-e  truths  on  which  few  wlinformS  me'tw 

,    fny  longer  entertain  a  daubt.    Until  such  permisZ 
be  fauJy  granted,  the  initiated  may,  as  we  Kow 

tude  holds  fast  to  another,  and  looks  with  suspicon 
and  distrust  on  the  philosopher  who  unreTSv 
make,  known  the  most  legitimate  deductilf^^ 
facts.  Such,  ,n  truth,- is  the  present  condition  rf 
tUgs  throughout  Chriatendom,-the  millions  b"i4 

planU  which  iuhahited  it  S^T/cl.rof  m^ 
as  they  were  m  the  middle  a^es  •  nr  ^*u  \        * 

from  Genesis.  ,deas  directly  hostile  to  the  ckcluZ! 

^  witl^ut  dreaming  of  its  historical  import  ._'^' 

^.  *'  Dona  parentii  ' 

Miratur,  rerumquo  ig„„„,  i„,^i„^  ^.^j^j . 


222 


BIBLICAL   CONTROVERSY.         [Chap.  XH. 


!       V 


them  in  print,  and  may  yet  remain  a  sealed  book  to 
the  million  as  completely  aa  if  they  were  stiU  in 
^   sacerdotal  keeping,  is  such  as  no  one  antecedently 
to  experience  would  have  believed  possible.     The 
discoveries  alluded  to  are  by  no  means  confined  to 
the  domain  of  physical  science.     I  may  cite,  as  one 
remarkable  example,  the  detection  of  the   spurious 
nature  of  the  celebrated  verse  in  the  First  Epistle  of 
John,  chap.  v.  verse  7.,  commonly  called  "the  Three 
Heavenly  Witnesses.".    Luther,  in  the  last  edition 
which  he  published  of  the  pible,  had  expunged  this 
passage  as  spurious;  but,  sliortly  after  his  death,  it 
was  restored  by  his  followers,  jn  deference  to  popu- 
lar prepossessions  and  Trinitarian  opinions.   Erasmus 
i^  omitted  it  in  his  editions  of  the  New  Testament  in 

"^  the  years  1516  and   1519;  and,  after  it  had  been 

excluded  by  several  other  eminent  critics.  Sir  Isaac 
Newton  wrote   his   celebrated   dissertation    on  the 
subject  between  the  years  1690  and  1760,  strength- 
ening the  arguments  previously  adduced  againftt  the 
genuineness  of  the  verse.    -Finally,  Por^on  published, 
in  1788  arid  1790,  his  famous  letters,  by  which-  the  ■ 
question  was  for  ever  set  at  rest.     It  was  admitted 
that  in  all  the  Greek  MSS.  of  the  highest  antiquity 
the  disputed  passages   were  wanting,   and   Porson 
enumerated  a  long  list  of  Greek  and  Latin  authors, 
including  the  names  of  many  fathers  of  the  Church, 
who,   in  their  controversies   with  Arians  and  So- 
cinians,  had  not  availed  themselves  of  the  text  in 
question,  although  they  had  cited  some  of  the  verses 
'      which  immediately  precede  and  follow,  which  lend  a 
comparatively  feeble' support  to  their  argument. 


\/ 


^   J 

BIBLICAL  CONTfiOVEEST. 


223 


If 

■Y  ■ 

t  Chap,  XIL] 

•      AU  who  took  the  lead  against  the  genuineness  of 
,      h  V^<>,  ezcept  Sir  Isaa,,  Newton,  were  Trini- 

_  does  the  best  servce  to  truti  who  hinders  it  from 
,     be,ng  supported   by  falsehocd."      Throughout  Xe 

Ph  TT'  ""'-y  "'"'''"=''»  'J'™^'  of  the  An*iil 
Church  ha»e  distinguished  themselves  by  S 
8choh„3h.p  and  candour,  and  it  is  weU  known  by 

cX  V  .•    '®^V"""  P""!'''i°g  Ws  edition  of  the 

f^UT'T'  ^'^'^  ''«  ■«""  »»'  obtain  leave 
from  the  late  Pope  (Gregory  XVI.)  to  Omit  the  inter 

wer?war„r'  "n?^  -""^ed imself  thatt; 
m^ZT^rl    J"  «««'"««'"  MS&  at  Rome 

bound  by  the  decrees  of  the  (Council  of  Trent,  an^ 

ot  a  Church  pretending  to  infallibility,  which  3 

•  solemnly  sar,ctioned  the  Vulgate,  and'he  ctjint^ 

nl  7  "T'  f  "^  '""■  *"  K'"  *''«  -Aority  of  hi 

^  DivLt  TV,  °°*  "'""'  «'•  "y  *•■«  «"«"»«" 
rf  th«  T  -.         "P'"'  '"'™"*y  ^0'  'ho  doctrine 

EniJ-Kp"'"^'/"''  "°*™'y«   "  "twined  i"  the 
Engl  eh  P™yer-Book,  in  one  of  the  lessons  for  Trin  ty 
Sunday,  and  m  the  epistle  selected  for  the  first  Sun 
day  after  Easter  but  the  Protest!  Episco^  Chu^h 

L  r','1:  r^™  "-""^  "'"^^S  their  ve„ionrf 
the  Enghsh  L.tu,^y  ;„  jgoi,  leveral  years  ^ter 
Porson's  letters  had  been  pnblishefi  di.l  Z.t  -TT 
^.,  although  they  M^tftn^'k^rr  ht 
hand,  and  were  lopping  off  seve^V  enti,^  servt^. 

^ „ ,_^ 1 !L^ 


224        ■  BIBLICAL  CONTEOTEESr.       [Chip.  XII. 

'n^  r  1'  <^,r™''«"i»°.  Gunpowder  Treason,  King 
Char  es  the  M^tyr,  the  Eestoration  'of  Charles  II! 
«.d    aat,  not  W  the  Athanasian  Creed.     Wha 
is  sfll  more  remarkable,  Protestants  of  every  deno- 
mmafon  have  gone  on  year  after  year  distributing 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  Bibles,  not  only  withouf 
^tnkmg  out  th.s  repudiated  verse,  bnt  without  even 
affixing  to  It  any  mark  or  am,ot^tion  to  show  the 
mulftude  tW  it  is  given  up  by  eve.7  one  who  ha 
the  least  pretension  to  scholarship  and  candour. 

"  Let -Truth,  stern  arbitress  of  all, 
Interpret  that  original. 
And  for  presumptuous  wrongs  atone ;  — 
Authentic  words  be  given,  or  none  I "' 
It  is  from  no  want  of  entire  sympathy  with  the 
entiment  expres^  in  these  lines  of  Wordsworth 
and  wntten  by  h,m  on  a  blank  leaf  of  Maephetion' 
Ossian  that  hteraty  or  scientific  men,  whethe/tro- 
^tant  or  Cathohc  European  or  American,  Zgy  0^ 
U.ty    absta«  .„  general  from  communicating  the 
results  of  their  scientific  or  biblical  researches  to 
the  miUion,  still  less  from  any  apprehension  that  the 

sic  ••""''  "'  Christianitf'would  suffer  tt 
shghtest  i^ury,  were  the  new  views  to  be  univeisaUy 
known.  They  hesitate,  partly  from  false  notionf  of 
expediency,  and  partly  through  fear  of  the  preju- 
dices of  the  vulgar.     Therdare  not  speak  out,  for 

^kZ"  ?1!"u  ^r'  ""'  "'"'  ■""■  "oo'^'i^'tioal  rulers 
of  England  halted  for  one  hundred  and  seventy  years 
before  they  had  coumge  to  adopt  the  reform  in  the 

wkt'Lf  '  r''^'"  ^■■'^"'yXin.,  in  accortanco 
with  astronomical  observations,  had  effected  in  1582 


-> 


Chap.  XII.]      IIOGAETH'S  ELECTION  FEAST.  223 

Hogarth,  in  hie  picture  of  the  Election  Feast  h^u, 
m  rodnced  a  banner  c^ricd  by  one  of  the  ! "wd,  o^ 

eleven  day,  for  he  remembered  when  the  angry 
-nob  .mtated  hy  the  innovation  of  the  new  sm! 
went^aereaming  thee  words  through  the  sJee^of 

irlobe  will,  if.  li  framework  of  the 

giooe,  w  th  Its  monOment»bf  many  extinct  races  of 
^v.ng  beings,  might,  if  suddenly  di^sed  to  ^g„o 

Zl  r?  ',r'  ^  ""^  »  <'^™»d  to  give  them 
ioelT  t  ''7°'°^':  «--  --  a  habU  of 
«J|oli  mgh  ,  t  -s  thought,  perpfe  them,  and  unsettle 
their  old  opm.o„s.  This  method  of  dea  inJ^wTtl! 
^o^t  sacred  of  subjects  may  thus  be  mlZTjl 

must  not  pull  them  up,  ff  y„u  »i„  ,„^^„    ^    • 

eeds  „m         '^°™''^°"  ""^'  g°  »"  ^O'ving  the 
seeds  of  the  same  tares  in  the  mind  of  the  rising 
genera  .on.  for  you  cannot  opSn  the  eyes  of  the  ch^ 
dren  without  undeceiving  and  alarming, their  paret 
Now  the  perpetuation  of  error  among  the  many  t 
on  y  one  part  of  the  mischief  of  this'wan    7^ 
faith;  for  ,t  ,s  also  an  abandonment  by  the  few  of^e 
l..gh  ground  on  which  their  religion  ou.ht  .rsUnd 
-mely,  its  truth.    It  accustoms  fhe  teache  to  Zrf 
h     religion  ,„  ,ts  relation  to  the  millions  a,  a  me^ 
piece  of  maclnncv,  like  a  police,  for  preserving  oXr 
or  cnabhng  one  class  of  men  to  govern  another         ' 

. . J,.,. J. .- 


\ 


22«  LAY  TEACHEB8.  CCWP.  XII. 

factor";  *  '*""  "''  *""«'  ^  ""^"'"'^  ""d  """tis- 

^tfw. "  r  r  """';*''<'  "^'"SY  who  are  to  blame 
aa  the  laity ;  for  laymen  have  more  freedom  of  action 
»d  can  w.th    es,  sacrifice  of  personal  interests   2 
the  mitiabve  m  a  reform.     The  cure  of  the  evil  is 
obvous ;  It  consists  in  giving  such  instruction  to  the 

«ble.    Whatever  .s  known  and  intelligible  to  ordinary 
oapachcs  m  science,  especially  if  contrary  to  thT 
fim  and  nature  impressions  derivable  from'^he  lit 
ndmeamng  or  ordinary  acceptation,  of  the  text  of 
Scnpture,  whether  in ,  astronomy,  geology,  or  any 
other  department  of  knowledge,  should  te  freZ 
oommnmcated*o  all.    Lay  teachers,  not  profession!  y 
devoted  and  pledged  to  propagate  the' opinions  rf 
part,cnlar  sects,  will  do  this  much  more  fLly  th™ 
eccles„.stics.  and,  as  a  matter  of  course,  in  ^ZTn 
as  the  standarf  of  ptzblic  instruction  is  raised ;  and  no 
order  of  men  would  be  such  gainers  by  the  measure 
■>«  the  clergy,  especially  the  most  able  and  uprighl 

rad°:'n  t?        r  r"^  "■■""''  ^™'^  '«'™- 
made  m  the  socal  and  inteUectual  position  of  the 

lay  teachers,  tends  to  emancipate,  not  the  masse! 

a  one,  but  still  more  effectually  their  spiritual  gufd^s 

and  would  mcrease  their  usefulness  in  a  tenfold  d^ 

gree      That  a  clergy  may  be  well  informed  for  the 

|«e  they  hve  m,  and  may  contain  among  them  many 

learned  and  good  men,  while  the  peopl  remain  in 

darkness,  we  know  from  history;  for  the  spirit  J." 

.nstructors  may  wish  to  keep  the  multitude  nTl" 

ranee,  wuh  a  view  of  maintaining  their  own  pofer 

But  no  educated  people  will  ever  tolerate  an  i^lT 


/ 


CHiP.XH.]   THEOLOGICAL  OOLLEOES.        227 

illiterate,  or  stationary  priest^od.      That   this    is 
.mpossible  the  experience  of  the  tot  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury .„  New  England  has  fuUy  proved.     In  con- 
finnatjon  of  th.s  truth,  I  may  appeal  to  the  progress 
made  by  the  muusters  of  the  Methodist  and  Baptist 
churches  of  kte  years.     Their -missionaries  found  the 
OongregafonaliBts  slumbering  in  all  the  security  of  an 
old  estabhshment,  and  soon  made  numerous  converts, 
besides  recruitmg  their  ranks  largely  from  newly 
amved  etagrantj     They  were  aWe  to  send  mo  e 
preachers  mto  the  vineyard,  because  they  required  at 
first  scarcely  any  preparation  or  other  qualification 
than  zeal.    But  no  sooner  had  the  children  of  the 
first  converts  been  taught  in  the  free  schools  under 
an  improved  system,  than  the  clergy  of  these  very 
denominations,  who  had  for  a  time  gloried  in  theh^ 
Ignorance  and  spoken  wit'S^contempt  of  all  human 
knowledge    fo«d  it  necessary  to  study  for  some 
years  m  theological  seminaries,  and  attend  courses 
of  church  history,  the  Greek.  Latin,  Hebrew,  and 

.nZ^J'h^"^?'  'l;^™"^^™  writings  of  Germai, 
and  other  biblical  scholars,  and  every  branch  of  di- 
vinity. The  Baptist  college  of  Newton  has  greatly 
distinguished  Itself  among  others,  and  that  o{  the 
Methodists  at  Middletown  in  Comiecticut ;  ^hilc  the 
Independents  have  their  theological  coUege  at  An- 

dover  ,„   Massachusetts,  which  has  acquired  much 

celebrity,  and  drawn  to  it  pupils  from  great^istances, 

and  of  many  different  denominations. 

The  large  coUections  of  books  on  divinity,  which 

»re  now  seen  in  the  libran-es  of  the  New  England 

t  6 


^v 


'^ 


'^m 


-r 


«-'Tf;'^5P*^y,"^* 


K-T- 


228 


PAY  OP  CLEBGT. 


[Cbap.  XII. 


clergy,  were  almost  unknown  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago.  ^ 

The  averse  pay  also  of  the  cldrgy,  in  the  rural 
districts  of  New  England,  has  increased.    About  the 
middle  of  the  last  century,  it  was  not  more  than 
200   doyars.  annually,  so   that   they  were  literally 
passing  nch  with  forty  pounds  a  year;"  wherei 
now  they  usually  receive  500  at  least,  and  some  in 
the  cities  2000  or  3000  dollars.     Nor  can  there  be  a 
doubt  that,  in  proportion  as  the  lay  teachers  are  more 
liberally  remunerated,  the  scale  of  income  required 
to  command  the  services  of  men  of  first-rate  talent 
in  the  clerical  professsion  must  and  will  be  raised. 
Already  there  are  many  indications  in  Massachusetts 
that  a  ^fepiand  for  higher  ^qialifications  in  men  edu- 
cated  for  the  pulpit  is  springing  up.     It  is  „o  bad 
augury  to  hear  a  miniver  eihort  his  younger  brethren 
at_t>ir  ordination  not^to  stand  in  awe  of  their  con- 
gregations, but  to^refliember  they  have  before  them 
«.nful  men  w^  to  be  warned,  not  critics  who 
^  are  to  be  pr^tiated.     "Formerly,"  said  Channing, 
« 1  ehx  trembled  before  Paul ;  it  is  now  the  successor 
of  Paul  w/o  trembles:  "-a  saying  which, .coming  as 
It  d.d  fppm  a  powerful  and  successful  preacher,  im- 
phes^that  the  people  are  awaking,  not  that  they  are 
growmg  indifferent  about  religious  matters,  but  that 
the  day  of  soporific  discourses,  full  of  empty  de- 
clamation or  unmeaning  common^pliices,  is  drawinir 
to  a  close.  * 

It  will  be  asked,  however,  even  by  some  who  are 
iavourablo  to  ,K>pulur  education,  whether  the  masses 
c«»havc  leisure  to  profit  in  after-life  by  such  a  style 


,    'i- 


Chap.  XII.]        PQPULAB  INSTRUCTION.  229 

of  teaching  aa  the  government  of  Massachusetts  is 
now  ambitious  of   affording   to   the    youth  of  the 
country,  between  the  ages  of  four  and  fourteen.     To 
this  I  may  answer,  that  in  nations  less  prosperous  and 
progressive  it  is  ascertaine'd  that  men  may  provide 
for  aU  their  bodily  wants,  may  feed  and  clothe  them- 
'selves,  and  y^t  give  up  one-seventh  part  of  their  time, 
or  every  sabbath,  to  their  religi&us  duties.    That  their 
religion  should  consist  not  merely  in  the  cultivation 
of  a  devotional  spirit  towards  their  Maker,  but  also 
in  acquiring  pure  and  lofty  conceptions  of  his  attti- 
bute8,--a  knowledge  of  the  power  and  wisdom  disr 
I)layed  in   his   works,  — an   acquaintance   with   his 
moral  laws, —a  just  sense  of  their  own  responsibilitv, 
and  an  exercise  of  their  understandings  in  appreciat- 
ing th^  evidences  of  their  faith,  few  of  my  readers  will 
deny.     To  ensure  the  accomplishment  of  these  ob- 
jects, a  preparatory  education  in  good  schools  is  in- 
dispensable.    It  is  not  enough  to  buiW  churches  and  ^ 
cathedrals,  to  endow  universities  or  theological  col- 
leges, orHo  devote  a  large  portion  of  the  national  re- 
venue* to  enable  a  body  of  spiritual  instructors  to 
discharge,  among  other  eoiiJesiastical  duties,  thut  of 
preaching  good  sermons  from  the  pulpit.  ^Their  seed 
may  fall  on  a  soil  naturally  fertile,  but  will  perish 
if  tliere  has  been  no  previous  culture  of  the  ground. 
At  the  end  of  seventy  years  men  of  good  natural 
abilities,  who  have  been  attentive  to  their  religious 
observances,  have  given  up  ten  entire  years  of  their 
life,  a  i)eriod  thrice  as  long  as  is  required  for  an 
aoademioftl  course  of  study,  and  at  the  close  of  such 
a  career  may,  aa  we  know,  be  ignorant,  sensual,  and 


■| 


T  T       fl  jTf,  -.j-rp^  =3 


230  POPULAR  INSTRUCTION.  ,     CChap.  Xfl. 

.^    «"P«^t»"t'«"«»  and  h^ve  little  love  or  taste  for  things 
*^^    intellectual  or  spiritual.  .  » 

But  gmnting  that  time  and  leisure  may  be  found. 
It  will  still  be  asked  whether,  if  men  of  the  humblest 
condition  be  taught  to  enjoy  the  poems  of  MUton  and 
^ray,  the  romances  of  Scott,  or  lectures  on  literature 
astronomy,  and  botany,  or  if  they  read  a  daily  news-* 
paper,  and  often  indulge  in  the  stirring  excitement  of 
party  politics,    they   will   be   contented   with   their 
situation  in  life,  and  submit  to  hard  labour?     AH 
apprehension  of  such  consequences  is  rapidly  disap- 
•peanng  ^„  the  more  advanced  States  of  the  American 
Union.     It  IS  acknowledged  by  the  rich  that  when 
the   free   schools  have    been    most    improved,   the 
peop^  are  least  addicted  to  intemperance,  are  more 
provident,  have  more  resped  for  property  and  the 
laws,  are  more  conservative,  and  less  led  away  bv 
8oc.al.8t  or  other   revolutionary  doctrines.     So   far 
trom  indolence  being  the  characteristic  of  the  labour- 
ing classes,  where  they  are  best  informed  the  New 
fc^nglanders  are  rather  too  much  given  to  overwork 
both  body  and  brain.     They  make  better  pioneers, 
when  roughing  it  in  alog-house  in  the  back-woods, 
than  the  uneducated  Highlander  or  Irishman ;  and 
the  factory  giris  of  Lowell,  who  publish  their  «  Offer- 
ing'' containing  their  own  original  poems  and  essays, 
work  twelve  hours  a  day,  and  have  not  yet  petitioned 
tor  a  ton-hour  bill. 

In  speculating  on  the  probability  of  the  other 
Stotos  in  the  north,  south,  and  west,  some  of  them 
differing  greatly  in  the  degree  of  their  social  advance- 
ment, and  many  of  them  retarded  by  negro  slavery 


^r^^.^t*  . 


'  '¥«5ver  ■  i-T*!?  * 


\%        Chap.  XII.]        POPULAR  INSTRUCTION.  231 

adopting  readily  the  example  set  them  by  the  New 
,       E^landers,  and  establishing  free  and  normal  schools 
1  hnd  that  American  enthusiasts  build  th*elr  hopes 
chiefly  on  that  powerful,  stimulus  which  they  say  is 
ottered  by  their  institutions  for  popular  education 
a  stimulus  such  as  was  never  experienced  before  in 
any  country  in  the   world.    This  •  consists   not  so 
much  in  the  absence  of  pauperism,  or  in  the  indi- 
vidual  liberty  enjoyed  by  every  one  in  ^ivil  and  re- 
ligious rights,  but  in  the  absence  of  the  influence 
pf  family  and  fortune -the  fair  field  of  competition, 
fredy  ipen  to  all  who  aspire,  however  humble,  to 
rjH|e  day  to  hi^,  employments,  especially  to  offi- 
pWrofessional  posts,  whether  lay  or  ecclesiastical, 
civil  or  mihtary,  requiring  early  cultivation.     Few 
will   realise    their    ambitious    longings;    but    every 
parent  feels  it  a  duty  to  provide  that  his  child  should 
not  be  shut  out  from  all  chance  of  winning  some  one  x 
of  the  numerous  prizes,  which  are  awarcled  solely  on 
the  ground  of  personal  qualifications,  not  always  to 
the  most  worthy,  but  at  least  witlwut  any  regard  to 
birth   or   hereditary  wealth.     It   seems   difficult   to 
foresee  the   limit   of  taxation   which  a  population, 
usually  very  intolerant  of  direct  taxes,  will  not  im- 
pose  on  themselves  to  secure  an  object  in  which  they 
l>avo  all  so  great  a  stake,  nor  does  any  serious  ob- 
Htacle  or  influence  seem  .likely  to  opi^se  their  will. 
There  is  in   no  State,  for  example,  any  dominant 
ecclesiastical    body  sufficiently  powerful   to   thwart 
the  maxims  of  those  statesmen  who  maintain  that       ' 
H«  the  people  are  determined  to  govern  themselves,' 
they  must  be   carefully  taught  »^d  'fitted  for  eelf- 


•ft-L 


sas. 


'^^f^^Wi^^^^  -?-^  tsfcf*    ^„^  ^-^'— fv   ^ 


jr,3-.r","Jfei..; 


r 


232  PPPVLAR  INSTBUCTION.         [Chir  XII. 

n.on  schoo  ,  open  to  all.    The  Roman  Catholie  prieste 

^w  iT'joo ":  ^r "'  ""^  ■^°*'  "••»"  h™ 

and  a  half,  have  made  some  vigorous  efforts  to  get 

■   S,r!  °'"'*an'l».  and  one  at  least  of  Ihe 

Prt,testapt  sects  has  openly  avowed  its  sympathy  in 
the  movement  But  they  have  faUed  JmT  ex" 
treme    ifficn^ty  of  organising   a  combined  eiCt 

theX"?  r  "^P"*  ""»"«''=  ■»'J.  fortunately, 
the  clergy  are  becoming  more  and  more  convinc5 
that, .where  the  education  of  the  million. has  b^ 
c.wned  farthest,  the  people.are  most  regular  Tn  thdr 
attendance  on  public  worship,  most  zealous  in  Z 
in tTrilf^''':?^^'""'  """""-■  --^  ■"-'  "be™      ■ 

::dTS^^'rct;:t.™-'"'*°^'^— "  ■ 


■  V 


Z' 


i£.\4 


;^,j*r^i-^ 


[CftAp;  XII. 

on  in  com- 
olic  priests, 
'6  there  are 
vo  millions 
)rt8  to  get 
the  school 
sast  of  the 
mpathy  in 
oa  the  ex- 
led  effort, 
ii  denomi- 
rtunately, 
convinced 
has  been 
r  in  their 
16  in  the 
8t  liberal 
ir  pastprs 


-     ^         _         ^— 

■MHMH 

1    ^ 

F^ 

J 

• 

* 

/*"  •"•       '■TV    t*  -^    ■-■'    '■-        ^ 


HfAP.  XIII.]  LEAViNG  BOSTON  FOE  THE  SOUTH.     233 


CHAP.  XIIL 

■Leavi^  Boston/or  the  Sovth.-RaUway  Stove.^PaU  of  Snow 
:      -Newhaven,  hnd  Visit  to  Professor  SiUiman.^New  York  -    " 

'^P^ovemer^intheCity.-CrotonWateru,orhs.-.Fov;Uaif^   ■ 
-  Recent  Conflagration.-New  Churches.- Trinity  Church, 

^or  «  anrf  iTA^afeto,^.  -  1  i,ooo  Schools  in  New  York  for 

Dec  3.   1845. -Having   resolved 'to   devot/the^"^ 
next  SIX  months  of  my  stay  in  America  to  a  geo- 
logical exploration  of  Ihose  parts  of  the   country  i 
which  I  had  not  yet  visited,  I  left  Boston  just  L 
th^oold  weather  was  setting  in,  to  sjpend  the  Xtet'     • 
m  tbe  South.    The  thermometer  had  faUen  to  23°  F 
and  on  our  way  to  the  .cars  we  saw  skaters  on  the 
ice  in  the  common.     Soon  after  we  started,  heavy 
enow  began  to  faU,  but  in  spite  of  the  6torm  we  ^re  - 
'  earned  to  Springfield,  lOO.nxiles,  in  five  hours.     Wfe 
passed  a  luggage  ttaih  with  twenty-t^o  loaded  cars, 
«>|ng  past  tis  in  the  opposite  direction,  on   100 
wheels,  including  those  of  theengine  and  tender. 
In  the  English  railways,  the  passengers  often  suffei- 
much  from  coldjn  winter.     HereMhe  stove  In-the   ' 
centre  of  the  long  omnibus  is  a  great  luxiiry/and  I   " 
saw  one  traveller  after  another  leave  his  scaj.  walk 


■ 


f    V -^j,.    , -X,,    ■'^'r^s 


234 


KAIL  WAY  STOVE. 


fcHAP.  XIII. 

up  tQ  it  .and  warm  his  fegt  on  the  fender.     As  I 
was  standing  there,^  gentleman  gave  me  the  Pre- 
sident's speech  to  read,  which,  by  means  of  a  raU- 
jay  express,  had,  for  the  first  time,'  been  brought 
from  Washington  to  Boston,  470  miles,  in  one  day.    It 
was  read  with  interest,  as  all  were  speculating  on  the 
probability  of  a  war  with  England  about  Oregon. 
While  I  was  indulging  my  thoughts  on  th^  rapid  qom- 
,ymunication  of  intelligence-by  newspapers  and  the  speed 
and.  safety  of  railway  tr^veUing,  a  fellow-passenger 
interrupted  my  pleasing  reveries  by  telling  me  I  was 
Standing  too  near  the  iron  stove,  which  had  scorched 
my  clothes  and  burnt  a  hole  in  my  great  coat;  and 
immediately  afterwards  I  feaHit  at  Springfield,  that  ^ 
the  cars  on  the  line  between  that  town  and  Albany, 
where  there  is' only  one  track,*had  run  against  a 
luggage   train  near   Chester,  and  many  passengers' 
were  injured.     Some  say  that  two  were  killed.     Ac- 
cording to  others,  one  of  the  trains  was  five  minutes 
before  its  time ;  but  our  informant  took  my  thoughts 
back  to  England,  and  English  narratives  of  the  Uke 
catastrophes,  hy  saying,  « It  has  been  ascertained  that 
no  one  was  to  blame."    We  had  no  reason  to  boast 
of  our  speed  the  next  day,  for  we  were  twelve  hours 
m  going  sixty-two  miles  to  Newhaven.     The  delay 
was  caused  by  ice  on  the  rail,  and  by  our  having  to 
wait  to  let  the  New  York  train  pas's  us,  there  being 
only  one  line  of  rail.     A  storm  in  the  Sound  had 
occasioned  the  New  York  cars  to  be  five  hours  behind 
their  time.     We  saw  many  sleighs  dashing  past  and 
crossmg  our  road.     It  was  late  before  we  reached 
the  hospitable  house  of  Professor  Silliman,  who  with 


t  ■; 


Chap.  XIII.]  VISIT  TO  PB0FES80R  SILLIMAN.         235 

« 

his  son  gave  me  many  valuable  inatructiona  for  my 
Southern  tour.  Their  letters  of  introduction,  how- 
ever, though  most  useful,  were  a  small  part  of  the 
service  they  did  me  both  in  this  tour  and  during  my 
former  visit  to  America.  Everywhere,  even  in  the 
States  most  remote  from  New  England,  I  met  with 
men  who,  having  been  the  pupils  of  Professor  Silli* 
man,  and  having  listened  to  his  lectures  when  at 
college,  ha4  invariably  imbibed  a  love  for  natural 
history  and  physical  science. 

In  the  morning,  when  we  embarked  in  the  steamer 
for  'New  York,  I  was  apaused  at  the  different  aspect  of 
.the  Newhaven  scenery  from  that  which  I  remembered 
in  the  autumn  of  1841.  The  East  Rock  was  now 
covered  with  snow,  all  but  the  bold  precipice  of 
columnar  basalt.  The  trees,  several  of  which,  espe- 
cially the  willows,  still  retained  many  of  their  leaves, 
were  bent  down  beneath  a  weight  of  icia.  I  never 
saw  so  brilliant  a  spectacle  of  the  kind,  for  every 
bough  of  the  large  drooping  elms  and  the  smallest 
twigs  of  every  tree  and  shfub  were  hung  with  trans- 
p^ent  icicles,  which,  in/a  bright  sunshine,  reflected 
the  prismatic  colours  like  the  cut-glass  drops  of  a 
chandelier.  As  we  sailed  out  of  the  harbour,  which 
was  crowded  with  j^e^els,  we  saw  all  the  ropes  of 
their  rigging  similarly  adorned  with  crystals,  pf  ice. 
A  stormy  voyage  of  nine  hours  carried  us.  through 
Long  Island  Sound,  a  distance  of  ninety  miles,  to 
N6w  York.  It  is  only  three  years  since  we  were 
last  in  this  city,  yet  in  this  short  interval  we  see 
improvements  equalling  in  importance  the  increase 
of  the  population^  which  now  amounts  in  round 


I 


^ 


/ 


I 


236  CROTON   WATERWORKS.  [ChIp.  XIII. 

nWrs  to  440,000;  New  York  containing  361,000,- 
and  Brooklyn,  which  is  connected  with  it  by  a  ferry 
together  with  Williamsburg,  79,000.     Among  other 
novelties  since  1841  we  observe  ^ith  pleasure  the 
new  fountams  in  the  inidst  of  the  city  supplied  from 
the  Croton  waterworks,  finer  than  any  which  I  re- 
member to  have  seen  in  the  centre  of  a  city  since  I 
was  last  at  Rome.     Two  of  them  are  nowT  in  spite 
ot  an  intense  frost,  throwing  up  columns  of  water 
^ore  than  thirty  feet  high,  one  opposite  the  City 
Hall,  and  another  in  Hudson  Square;  but  I  am  told 
that  when  we  retiCm  in  the  summer  we  shaU'  see 
many  others  in  action.     A  work  more  akin  iZmag- 
mhcenee  to  the  ancient  .and  modern  Eoman  aque- 
ducts has  not  been  achieved  in  our  times ;  the  water 
having  been  brought  from  the  Croton  river,  a  dis- 
tance of  ^bout  forty  miles,  at  the  expense  of  about 
three  millions  sterUpg.    The  health  of  the  city  is  said 
to  have  already  gained  hy  greater  cleanliness  and 
more  wholesome  w^ter  for  drinking;  and  I  hear  from 
an  emment  physician  that  statistical  tables  show  that 
cases  of  infantine  cholera  and  some  other  complaints 
have  sensibly  lessened.     The  water  can  be  carried  to 
the  attics  of  every  house,  and  many  are  introducing 
baths,  and  indulging  in  ornamental  fountains  in  pri- 
vate gardens.     The  rate  of  ihsurance  for  fire  has 
been  lowered;  and  I  could  not  help  reflecting,  as  I 
looked  at  the  moving  water,  at  a  season  when  every 
pond  18  covered  with  ice,  how  much  more  security 
the  city  must  now  enjoy  than  during  the  great  con- 
flagration in  the  winter  of  1835,  when  there  was  such 
a.  want  of  water  to  supi)ly  the  engines.     Qnly  five  " 


if 


'X^ 


,  M: 


'T'^-«='-1^<^"1sr.  i 


■«f^' 


v^- 


'■i  ■pi^^e^   I 


■  iT""^    *  ~y^^!Kj^5'^""i^ 


Chap.XIIL]     becent  conplageation.   \  237 

months  ago  (July  19th,  1845),  another  Ltructive 
hre  broke  out  near  the  battery,  and  whin  it  was 
nearly  extinguished  by  aid  of  the  CrotonWater,  a 
tremendous  explosion  of  saltpetre  kiUed  manW  of  the 
firemen,  andscattered  the  burning  materialsL  great 
distances,  igniting  houses  in  every  direction.  \  A  be- 
lief that  more  gunpowder  still  remained  uneiploded 
checked  for  a  time  the  approach  of  the  fireien,  so 
that  a  large  area  w^  laid  waste,  and  even  no^  some 
of  the  ruins  are  smoking,  there  being  ^  smouHering 
.  heat  in  cellars  filled  with  "dry  goods."     Whei  the 
citizens  of  London  rejected  the  splendid  plan  vlhich 
Su-  Christopher  Wr^n  proposed  for  its  restoralion, 
he  declared  that  they  had  not  deserved  a  fire,  Wt 
the  New  Yorkers  seem  to  have  taken  full  advantLe 
of  the  late  catastrophe.     As  it  was  the  business  plrt 
of  the  city  which  the  flames  laid  in  ruins,  we  coiJd 
not  expect  much  display  of  ornam'SntSHf^Sitecturl 
but  already,  before  the  ashes  have  done  smokina  Ve 
see  entire  streets  of  substantial  houses  which  \av' 
risen  to  their  full  height,  and  the  ground  has  beef 
raised  five  feet  higher  than  formerly  above  the  rivef 
so  as  to  secure  it  from  inundations,  which  has  Jo 
enhanced  its  value,  that  many  of  the  sites  alone  ha^  o 
soldi-or  prices  equal  to  the  value  of  the  buildini  s 
which  once  covered  them.    Amongst  the  ifew  edifice  5, 
we  were  shown  some  which  jvre  fire-proof.     Unfo  •- 
tunately,  many  a  fine"  tree  has  been  burnt,  and  thf  y 
are  still  standing  without  their  bark,  but  the  weepi j  g 
willows   bordering  the   river   on   the   battery  Le 
escaped  unsingcd.  1 

Among  the  new  features  of  the  city  we  see  seven 


,  t-u±a,i^^*^i^ig^ifi.  ;■, 


238 


NEW  CHURCHES. 


[Chap.  XIII. 


fine  churches,  some  built  from  their  foundations,  others 
finished  since  1841.  The  wooden  spires  of  several 
are  elegant,  and  so  solid  as  to  have  all  the  outward 
effect  of  stone.    The  two  most  conspicuous  of  the  new 

l^i,;  edifices  are  Episcopalian,  Trinity  and  Uracechurch. 

;/r  The  cost  of  the  former  has  been  chiefly  defrayed  by 
funds  derived  from  the  rent  of  houses  ip  New  York, 
bequeathed  long  since  40  the  Episcopal  Church.  The 
expense  is  said  to  have  equalled  that  of  erecting  any 
four  other  churches  in  the  city.  It  is  entirely  of 
stone,  a  fine-grained  sandstone  of  an  agreeable  light- 
brown  tint.  The  top  of  the  s^eple  is  289  feet  from 
the  ground.  The  effect  of  the  Gothic  architecture  is 
very  fine,  and  the  Episcopalians  may  now  boast  that 
of  all  the  ecclesiastical  edifices  of  this  continent  they 
have  erected  the  most  beautiful.  Its  position  is  ad- 
mirably chosen,  as  it  forms  ^  prominent  featur^n 
Broadway,  the  principal  street,  and  in  another 
direction  looks  down  Wall  Street,  the  great  centre 
of  city  business.  It  is  therefor^  seen  from  great 
distances  in  this  atmosphere,  so  beautifully  clear  even 
at  this  season,  when  every  stove  is  lighted,  and  when 
the  thermometer  has  fallen  twenty  degrees  below  the 
freezing  point.  Where  there  is  so  much  bright  sun- 
sljine  and  no  smoke,  an  architect  may  Veil  be  in- 
spired with  ambition,  conscious  that  the  effect  of  every 
pillar  and  other  ornament  will  be  fully  brought  out 
with  their  true  lights  and  shades.  The  stylc^of  the 
exterior  of  Trinity  Church  reminds  us  of  some  o(  our 
old  Gothic  churches  in  Lincolnshire  and  Northamp- 
tonshire. The  interior  is  in  equally  good  taste,  the 
middle  aisle  sixty -five  feet  high,  but  the  clusterec 


{1 


ii 


w- 


Chap.  XIII. 


Chap.  XIII.] 


TBINITY  CHURCH. 


239 


columns' will  not  have  so  stately  an  appearance,  nor 
display  their  true  proportions,  when  the  wooden  pews 
have  been  introduced  round  their  base.  An  attempt 
was  made  to  dispense  with  these:  but  the  measure 
could  not  be  carried ;  in  fact,  much  as  we  may  admire 
the  architectural  beauty  of  such  a  cathedral,  one  can-, 
not  but  feel  that  such  edifices  were  planned  by  the 
genius  of  othei^  ages,  and  adapted  to  a  different  form 
of  worship.  When  th^  forty-five  windows  of  painted 
glass  are  finished,  and  the  white-robed  choristers  are 
singing  the  Cathedral  service,  to  be  performed  here 
daily,  and  when  the  noble  organ  peals  forth  its 
swelling  notes  to  the  arched  roof,  the  whole  service 
will  remind  us  of  the  days  of  Komanism,  rather  than 
seem  suitable  to  the  wants  of  a  Protestant  congre- 
gation. It  is  not  the  form  of  building  best  fitted  for 
instructing  a  large  audience.  To  make  the  whole  in 
keeping,  we  ought  to  throw  down  the  pews,  and  let 
processions  of  priests  in  their  robes  of  crimson,  em- 
broidered with  gold,  preceded  by  boys  swinging  cen- 
sers, and  followed  by  a  crowd  of  admiring  devotees, 
sweep  through  the  spacious  nave. 

That  the  whole  pomp  and  splendour  of  the  ancient 
ceremonial  will  gradually  be  restored,  with  no  small 
portion  of  its  kindred  dogmas,  is  a  speculation  in 
which  some  are  said  to  be  actually  indulging  their 
thoughts,  and  is  by  no  means  so  visionary  an  idea  as 
half  a  century  ago  it  might  have  been  thought.  In 
the  diocese  of  New  York,  the  party  which  has 
adopted  the  views  commonly  called  Puseyite  appears 
to  have  gone  greater  lengths  than  in  any  part  of 
England.    The  newspapers  published  in  various  parts 


■?:(: 


~-^  -     i---;!^-J 


i 


240  CONVERTS  TO  ROME.  [Chap.  XIII. 

of  the  Union  bear  testimony  to  a  wide  extension  of 
the  hke  movement.     We  read  for  example  a  state- 
ment of  a  bishop  who  has  ordered  the  revolving  read- 
mg-desk  of  a  curate  to  be  nailed  to  the  wall,  that  he 
might  be  unable  to  turn  with  it  towards  the  altar. 
Ihe  offending  clergyman  has  resigned  for  the  sake^f 
peace,  and  part  of  his  congregation  sympathising  in 
his  views  have  raised  for  him  a  sum  of  6000  dollars 
In  another  paper  I  see  a  letter  of  remonstrance  from' 
a  bishop  to  an  Episcopal  clergyman,  for  attending 
vespers  in  a  Romanist  church  and  for  crossing  him- 
self with  holy  water  as   he   entered.     The   epistle 
finishes  with  an  inquiry  if  it  be  true  that  he  had 
purchased  several  copies  of  the  Ursuline  Manual  far 
young  persons.     The  clergyman,  in  reply,.9efflplai5r 
of  this  petty  and  annoying  inquisition  into  his  private 
affairs,  openly  avows  that  he  is  earnestly  examining 
into   the   history,   character,   claims,   doctrines,  and  / 
usages  of  the  Church  of  Eome,  and  desiro^>,  of  be- 
coming practically\icquainted  with  their  forms  of 
worship  _  that  when  present  for  this  purp^  he  had 
thought  It  right  to  conform  to  the  usage  WM'^'' 
gregation,  &c.  [^l 

It  would  be  easy  to  multiply  anecdotes,  and  advln^, 
to  controversial  pamphlets  with  .which  the  press  is 
teeming  in  proof  of  the  lively  interest  now  t^ken  in 
similar  ecclesiastical  questions,  so  that  the  reader 
may  conceive  the  sensation  just  created  here  by  a 
piece  of  intelligence  which  reached  l^ew  York  the 
very  day  of  our  arrival,  and  is  now  gping  th,  round 
of  the  newspapers,  namely,  the  conversion  to  the 
Romish  Church  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Newman,  of  Q^fbrd 


7" 


■HMJ.,  ,J 


^asm 


»tm  suspect  t^AT^tC.  3  : -et  "''" 
actuated  by  worldly  r-otiye^Mn^^JtbT^r 
did  injustice  to  the  great  'C^^^T'^  ^Jt  ""^^ 
them  remarked  to  Z,  "  -^KIIT,^'  .  °""  °'' 
Pnlpit  here  that  we  live  in^i^r      ,.  *''""  '*■« 
that  itis  the  tendency  of  ouf^ffiThT'^     ™'  ""'^ 
»ttef  than  too  much    and  vefp  V  .      '™  *~  "«'» 
talent  are  now  r"^!tot»r!.        '**"*' °^™P"'<" 
c  ui  iciurnmg  to  the  faith  of  Rnm*.  f  t     •  i  . 
have  replied  that  reaction  seems  to  bf!r  .     "'^'" 
a  principle  of  thcmoml  as  of  The  "  ^    T'  "^  """='' 
that  we  know  from  Z       *i!  "*"  ''""■'<''  »"<" 

«Ho  had  Hv::;  t",;^  te7c™r:r;r  ^^  °'  --^ 

of  the  Tractarian  movem  ntTolj'rarr*''^ 
f^m  doubts  derived  from  the  s^dy  rf  tp.  ' 
rationa  st8,leddirectlvt„*),  •  "  ^  "'  "■«  German 
site  direction    «tT  V   "'7''»P«rture  in  an  qnuq- 

called  Church    'L'®.^''         5 '>'«'"'»«  which  Zy 
.^J  «,  "^"^  P'""  ™  to  stop  all  innuirv  » 

and  •'  to  restore  popery,  e«luding  the  pone  "  'm7' 

Jie,^heattempttorevivethecLulirc^;B,i      . 
ages,  and  to  resuscitate  a  belief  in  all  k.  _•     ,% 


(T 


'  ^°^JB'«io°Wl.ite.v,i;ap.355,.ndvol.i;i. 


VOL.  I, 


p.  106. 


■#; 


raifa*^ 


::,;'  '?tfr£^="" 


?^  '-J^''!'^ 


'HfV>-V\'r-  T^l.  P-TAfi 


-^ 


242 


THE  ELECTBIC  TELEGRAPH.     [Chap.  XIII. 


party  called  the  anti-supernaturalists,  who  entirely 
reject  all  the   historical  evidence  in  favour  of  the 
Scripture  miracles.     Their  leader  in  New  England, 
"Mr.  Theodore  Parker,  ia  the  author  of  a  work  of 
great  erudition,  originality,  and  earnestness  (lately 
reprinted  in  England),  in  which,  while  retaining   a 
belief  in  the 'Divine  origin  of  Christianity,  and  the 
bindifig  nature  of  its  moral  code,  he  abandons  the 
greater  part  of  the  evidences  on  which  its  truth  has 
■  hitherto   b?en   considered  to  repose.     I  heard  this 
author,  during  my  late  stay  in  Boston,  preach  to  a, 
congregation  respectable  for  its  nurnb^  and  station.' 
Next  to  the  new  churches  and  fountains,  the  most 
.striking  change  observable  in  the  streets  of  New  York 
since  1841,  is  the  intrpduotion  of  the  electric  tele- 
graph, the  posts  of  which,  about  30  feet  high,  and  100 
yards  apart,  traverse  Broadway,  and  are  certainly  not 
ornamental.    Occasionally,  where  the  trees  interfere, 
the  wires   are  made  to  cross  the  street  diagonally. 
The  successful  exertions  made  to  render  this  mode  of 
communication  popular,  and  so  to  cheapen  it  as  to 
bring  the  advantages  of  it  within  the  reach  of  the 
largest  possible   number  of    merchants,   newspaper 
editors,  and  private  individuals,  is  characteirtBtio  of 
the  country.     There  is  a  general  desire  dVinced  of 
overcoming  8pac%i|i  which  seems  to  inspire  gl\  their 
exertions  for  extending  and  improving  railways.  Hoes 
t^  steam  navigation,  and  these  telegraphs,     ^^^oul- 
ifturists^nd  mercantile   men  in   remote  places,  are 
ei^r  to  know  every  where,  on  the  very  day  of  the 
arrivaiHf  an  Atlantic  mail  steamer,  the  prices  of  grain, 
ootton,  and  other  articles  in  the  European  markets, 


^ 


1  otn( 

4 


;•'%'''     'jS^T-  ■r'V^Sf'f^'^X'^-^^^^i^     ^  ^''T    ^*^^ 


Ch„.  illl.]    TM  ELECIEIC  TELEOB^Pa.  243 

•o  that  they  may  apeoulate  on  equal  terms  wif^  .u 
o'tizens  of  Boston  and  New  Y^k     T^   T}-^" 
who  .  ambitious,  not  „„,y  „f  ^^^^^,  P*|-». 

hail-'the  new  iUu^nXrirtdT  ^"t-^' 
,.onoe  iu  important  con«=,uen  *    '  ^ 'rf ''' 

earth  in  forty  mTur"   jl^^"  "'""'  ■"""•$  "•« 

»  the  »ews^pe„rhead'SC:Xn'" 
mng.  printed  by  steam  »  .„,      "'"'"'M  by  l,ght- 

weioome  the  discover^'  J"l""  '^■»  5«-%  to 
When  .promoting  7ck  ToZ27""'^'^ 
without  boastfulness-      .  ^  "'^  "'''•™' 

■  *    A  A  "  ^'""  "^  ™''™"'  '■•"■  '"''  """^V  king.." 

4^:^  «rrp,::dVrsr^''^i "-  "■« 

1600  miles,  and  in  84«  LL  '  '™'"'"'*'^  '»  "'"'v" 
».««.  of  wire  1 J  down  InThar"  ™"'  *'"'"  '"^ 
«^H^Wen^s».tam%:ttr^-"^^^^- 

.'^^^.^Titterdt.^fx^ 

on  .mmediately,  byeleotrie  teCplt  New  O 


.  i 


V    W 


s  ^ 


M  8 


'•gply  rcacb^ 


244 


THE  ELECTBIC  TELEGRAPH.    [Chap.  XIII. 


■tv, 


^ndon  on  the  twenty-ninth  day  from  the  sending 
of  the  questipn;  the  whole  distance  being  more 
than  10,000  miles,  which  had  been  traversed  at  an 
average  rate  exceeding  350  miles  a  day. 

It  is  satisfactory  to  learn  that  the  telegraph,  al- 
though so   often   passing  through  a  wild   country, 
in  some  places  anticipating  even  the  railway,  seems 
never  yet  to  have  been  injured  by  the  lovers  of  mis- 
chi^.     The  wires   have  also  been  often  struck  by 
lightning,   so   frequent   and   vivid   in   this  climate, 
without  serious  derangement  of  the   delicate   ma- 
chinery.    The  telegraph  generally  in|  use  is  the  patent 
of  Mr..  Morse,  whose  invention^  combines  the  power 
of  printing  a  message  simultaneously  with  its  trans- 
mission.    As  the  magnetic  force  becomes  extremely 
feeble  when   conducted   through  a  great  length   of 
wire,    Morse   employs  it  simply  to  make  a  needle 
vibrate,  and  so  open  and  close  the  galvanic  circuit 
placed  in  each  office,  where  a  local  battery  is  set  in 
action,  which   works   the   printing   machine.      The 
long  wires,  therefore,  may  be   compared  to  slender 
trains  of  gunpowder,  which  are  made  to  fire  a  distant 
cannon  or  mine.     It  is  not  the  battery  in  Philadel- 
phia which  works  the  instrument  in  Washington,  but 
a  battery  in  the  Washington  office.    This  contrivance 
is  obviously  |Dthing  more  than  a  new  adaptation  of 
the   method  Specified   by   Mr.  Wheatstone,   in   his 
pkcnt  of  June,  1837,  Ibr  ringing  an  alarum  bell  in 
each  station  by  means  of  a  local  battery,  of  which  I 
saw  him  exhibit  experiments  in  1837. 

In    Sejjtember  of  the  same  year  Mr.  Morse  in- 
vented an  ingenious  n^odo  of  printing  messages,  by 


[Chap.  XIII, 

the  sending 
being  more 
irersed  at  an 

ilegraph,  al- 
Id  country, 
Iway,  seems 
vers  of  mis- 
1  struck  by 
[lis  climate, 
elicate  ma- 
is  the  patent 
J  the  power 
:h  its  trans- 
8  extremely 
b  length  of 
ce  a  needle 
anic  circuit 
ry  is  set  in 
iine.  The 
1  to  slender 
re  a  distant 
n  Philadel- 
lington,  but 
contrivance 
laptation  of 
me,  in  his 
rum  bell  in 
of  which  I 

Morse  in- 
essogos,  by 


Chap.  XIII.]    THE  ELECTRIC  TELEGRAPH.  245 

causing  an  endless  scroll  of  .paper  to  roU  off  o„e 
cylmd^r  on  to  another  by  means  of  clock-work,  the 
paper  bemg  made  to  pass  under  a  steel  pen,  which  is 
moved  by  electro-magnetism.  ^ 

Anient  of  Mr.  Morse  explained  to  me,the  mal 
ner  m  which  the  steel  p«  was  madeXio^i^dent  the 
paper,  which  is  not  pierced  but  appears  as  if  it  had 
been  pressed  on  by  a  blunted  point,^the  under  sur- 
face bemg  raised  as  in  books  printed  for  the  blind. 
If  the  contact  of  the  pen  be  continufid  tnstead  of 
making  a  dot  it  produces  a  short  or  a  long  line, 
accordmg  {o  the  time  oicqntact.  The  following  is  a 
specimen :  —  8  °  » 


>  •  •  •      • 


T    h    e   E    1    e    c    t    ^,0     M    a     g     „^ 


■•         •      •    •  C^B 


•■«•  •••• 


"     *    '    «     T     e     1    e    g       r      a     p       h. 

In  the  latest  improvements  of  the  telegraph  in 
England,  the  magnetic  force  has  been  so  multiplied 
by  means  of  several  thousand  coils  of  wire,  that  they 
can  send  it  direct,  so  as  to  move  th^  needle  at  great 
distances  without  the  aid  of  local  batteries.  The  use 
however,  of  this  instrument,  tas  been  coJparatively 
small  m  Great  Britain,  the  cost  of  measles  beihg 
four  times  as  great  as  in  tl^e  United  States    .,. 

The  population  of  the  State  of  New  York,  amounts 
in  the  present  year  (1845)  to  2,604.495  souls.  Of 
this  number,  as  we  learn  by  the  report  of  thefovem- 
ment  mspeotor  of  schools,  no  less  than  807,200 
chUdren,  forming  almost  one-third  of  the  inhabitants 
have  received  Uie  benefit  of  instruction  either  for  the* 
whole  or  part  of  the  year.  Of  these,  31,240  attended 
ff-r-;^ 


* 


f         41k* 


5Sp_?»^^ 


246 


SCHOOLS   IN  NEW  YORK.        [Chap.XIIL 


l» 


private  schoola,  and  742,433  the  common  or  public 
schools  of  the  State,     We  are  also  informed  in  the 
.satoe  official  document,  that  the  number  of  public 
schools  18  now  1 1,003.    The  whole  amount  of  jnoney 
received  by  the  school  trustees  during  the  year  for 
teachers,  wages,  and  district  libraries,  was  1,191,697 
dollars,  equal  to  about  250,000/.    This  sum  has-been 
raised  chiefly  by  rafes,  «nd  about  one-third  of  it  from 
the  revenue  of*  the  school  fund,  which   produces  a 
yearly  income  of  375,387  dollars.     The  teachers  in 
the  common  schools,    both    male   and   female,  ,are 
boarded  at  the  public  expense,  and,  in  addition  to 
their  board,  receive  the  following  salaries :  —  Male 
teachers,  during  the  winter  term,  14  dollars  16  cents ; 
and   during  the  summer   term,   15  dollars  77  cents 
per  month,    equal   to  about  50/.    a   yean     Female ' 
teachers,  7  dollars  37  cents  in  the  winter  t^rm,  and 
6  dollars  2  cents  in  the   summer   term.      In   some 
(CouiAics,  however,  the  average  is  stated  to  be  as  high 
as  20  or  even  26  dollars  per   month   for  W-male 
teachers,  and  from  9  to  11  for  the  female.     There 
are  also  district  libraries  in  connexion  with  most  of 
the  schools.  > 

All  these  11,000  schools  have  been  organised  on 
what  has  been  styled  in  England,  even  by  respectable 
members  in  the  House  of  Commons,  the  infidel  or 
godless  plan,  which  generally  means  nothing  more 
than  that  they  are  not  under  the  management  of  the 
clergy.  The  Roman  CatKolio  bishops  and  priests 
command  a  vast  number  of  votes  at  the  elections  in 
New  York,  yet  they  failed,  in  1842,  to  get  into  their 
exclusive   control   that   part  of    the   public   school 


t'W''i 


f'f.  ^s~^t% 


Chap.XIII,]        secular  EDUCATION.  247 

tooney  wljicb-  might  fairly  be  considered  aa  appli- 
cable to  the  teaching  of  children  d%their  own  deno- 
mination.   Their  efforts,  however,  though  fortunately 
defeated,  were  attended  by  some  beneficial  results. 
at  is  Obviously  the  duty  of  every  government  which  • 
establishes  a  national  system  of  secular  education,  to 
see  that  no  books  are  used  in  the  schools,  containing 
•sectarian  viewis,  or  in  which  the  peculiar  opinions  of  - 
any  sect  are  treated  with  marked  contempt.     The 
Catholics  complained  that  some  of  the  works  put  into 
the  hands  of  children,  especially  those  relating  to 
English,  history,' were  written  with   a   strong  Pro- 
tfeptant  bias,   and  that  while   the  superstitions    of 
popery,  ^nd  the    bigotry   of   Bloody   Mary,   were 
pointedly- dwelt  upon,  the  persecutions  endured  by 
Romanists  at  the  hands  of  Protestant  rulers  were 
overlooked,  or  slightly  glanced  at     The  expunging 
of  such  passages,  .both  in  the  State  of  New  York  and 
ih  New  England,  must  have  a,  wholesome  tendency  to 
lessen  sectarian  bitterness,  which,  if  imbibed  at  an 
early  age,  is 'so  difficult  to  eradicate ;  aijd  children 
thus  educated,  will  grow  up  le^s  prejudiced,  and  more 
4ruly  Christian  in  spirit,  than  if  the  Romish  or  any 
other  clergy  had  been  pei-i^itted  to  obtain  the  riole    ^ap? 
and  separate  training  of  th^minds. "    '  ■ 

I  have  often  mentioned  the  abpnce  of  smoke  as  a     " 
striking  and   enviable   peculiarity^  the  Atlantic 
cities.     For  my  own  pyt,'  1  never  ^nd  the  hea|^ 
a  well-managed   stove  oppressive,  when   veeselsW     - 
water  were  placed  over  it  for  moistening  the  air  by 
free    evaporation,    and    the    anthracite    con!  burns 
brightly  in  open  grates.     Even  in  a  moral  point 


^ 


\ 


il 


AJBSBNCE   OF   SMOKE.  [Chip.  x!lll. 


Cf 


X  '•i 


of  View,  1  regard  f#8dom  from  smoke  as  a 
national  gain,  for  ifeauses  the  richer  and  m 
cated   inhabitj^s  to -Reside  in  cities  hii  the 


their  poore^  neighboi|*  durii^  aWgdf part 

yea|>  which -they  woi^jl^not  di^ffithe  %  a^^„ 

houses  w^e  as  much  '^qjjed  bjf  )i|0kte  a^f%oo|.  as 

i  Manchester,  BirmingJii^iXeed8.:^^h|^Qjd^,|y** 

Vhe  dress  (^d  |irniturl  }pt  longfc  ^j^Sc>* 

'•-^  flowefa  il^  shlTiba  can  be  cuJtivSe^ife  tb;^ 

f9i|l4yilifiid'»ll.\fiBo  can  aiflford  to  move*  a%  n6t,(!iii(r( 

801^  distant  suburb.     The  form- 

JI^^Apd  ficientifip'and  literary  jnsti- 

vprd  lectures,  ^nd  the  da^  inter- 

^      ^      tlie^  different  orders  pf  societ}p|^-  in  a 

" ".  "^"*^|»;«^  %^  can  advance  and  refine  the  Ai  and 

^^  o^  a'.treat  population,  are  facUitatedl^  this 

Hl  *^^  *^*^  ^°^  ^^  ^^^'     ^^  addition,  1|iere- 
.  .  '■■  f^r®'  Y  *^^   importance  given   to  the  middle- and 
^."^iower  classes  by  the  political  institutions  of  Am<^ca, 
t  cannot  but  thin^'it  was,  a  forturiate  geological 
arrangement   fpr  the  civilisation  6f  the  cities  first 
.  T  founded  oti  this  continent,  that  the  anthracitic  coal- 
fields were  all  placed  oh  the  eastern  side  of  the  Alle- 
,,'    ghany  mountains,  and  all  the  bituminous  coal-fields 
■       on  their  western  side. 

^%.    One  dajr  when  we  were  diping  at  the  great  table 

;     of  the  Carlton  Hotel,  one  of  the  largest  and  most 

'  fiishionable  establishments  of  this  kind  in  New  York, 

r      we  were    informed   by  an  American  friend,  t]^t  » 

young  man  and  woman  sitting  opposite  tb  u^^e 

well  known  to  him  as  work-people,  from  afli|ry 

near  Boston.     Tgbr  scarcely  spoke  a  w<IM[^Kere 


'M 


^ 


'•> 


t^ 


s». 


Chap.  XIII.] 


IRISH  VOTERS. 


249 


<3onf6rming  carefully  to  the  conventional  manners  of 
those  around  them. 

^  Before  we  left  New  York,  we  witnessed  an  un^ ' 
fweseen  effect  of  the  abundance  of  waste  water  i^-  ' 
cently  poured  into  the  city  through  the  new  Croton 
^  aqueduct.     In  the  lower  streets  near  the  river  the 
water  m  the  open  gutters  had  frozen  in  the  course  , 
f*/*^\"'g^\«nd,  next  morning,  the  usual  channels 
being  blo^ea  up  with  ice,  a  stream  poured  down  the 
n^iddle  o^the  street,   and  was  in  its  turn  frozen 
there,  so   that  when  I  returned  one  night  from  a 
party,  I  wished  I  had  beep  provided  with  skates,  so 
•  continuous  was  the  shetft  of  ice.     Then  came  a  thaw,  ' 
and  the  water  of  the  melted  ice  poured  into  the  lower 
stones  of  many  houses.     The  authorities  are  taking 
active  measures   to  provide   in  future   against   the 
recurrence  of  this  evil. 

I  suggested  to  one  of  my  friends  here  that  they 
had  omitted,  amongst  their  numerous  improvements,  ' 
to  exclude  the  pigs  from  the  streets.     "It  is  not 
possible,    said  he,  "for  they  all  have  votes;  I  mean   \ 
their  Irish  owners  have,  and  they  turn  the  scale  in  / 
the  elections  for  mayor  and  other  city  officers.    If  we 
must  have  a  war,"  he  added,  "about  Oregon,  it  will 
at  leaat  be  attended  with  one  blessing-the  stopping) 
of  this  incessant  influx  of  hordes  of  ignomnt  adven- 
turers, who  pour  in  and  bear  down  our  native  popu- 
lation.   Whether  they  qall  tftUselves  « the  true  sons 
of  Erm,   or  the  *  noble  sons  or^G^ermany,'  they  are 
he  dupes  and  tools  of  our  demagogues."     He  then 
told  me  that  in  the  last  presidential  dection  he  had 
been  an  inspector, ..and  had  rejected  many  fraudu- 


mmm 


■'-»<"V'flr.' 


ti 


/ 


250 


NATIVISM. 


[Chap.  XIII. 


lent  votes  of  newly  arrived  emigrants,  brought  to 
the  poll  without  letters  of  naturalisation,  and  he 
had  np  doubt  that  some  other  inspectors  had  been  less 
scrupulous  when  the  voters  were  of  their  own  poli- 
tical party.  "  But  for  the  foreign  vote,"  he  affirmed, 
"  Clay  would  have  been  elected."  "  Have  you  then 
joined  the  native  American  party^"  "  No ;  be- 
cause, by  separating  from  the  Whigs,  they  have 
weakened  the  good  caus6,  and  nativism  being  chiefly 
anti-Irish,  too  often  degenerates  into  religious  bigotry, 
or  into  a  mere  anti-popery  faction." 


\' 


\V 


^ 


m^ 


Chap.  XIV.]     SCENERY  IN  NEW  JERSEY. 


251 


J 


CHAP.  XIV. 

^ew  York  to  Philadelphia.  —  Sfienen,  in  New  Jersey.  —  War 

•  ^out  Oregon.  ~  ProtccHonist  Theories.  ^  Income  Tax  and 
Repudiation.  —  Recriminations  against  British  Aggrandise- 
ment. —  Irish  Qmrter  and  fraudyJent  Votes.  —  Washington  - 
Congress  and  Ann^ation  of  Texas.  —  General  Cass  for  War 
--  Winthrop  for  Arbitration.— Inflated  Eloquence.  -  Supreme 
Court.~Slavery  in  District  of  Columbia.-Museum,  Collection 
of  C^als.  ~  Sculpture  from  Palenque.  -  Conversations  with 
..  Mr.  I'ox.-A  Residence  at  Washington  not  favourable  to  a  just 
Estimate  of  the  United  States.  -  False  Position  of  Foreifrn 
Diplomatists.  ,  * 

Dec.  9.  1845.  — Left  New  York  for  Philadelphia  '% 

by  railway.  When  crossing  the  ferry  to  New  Jer^y, 
saw  Long  Island  and  Staten  Island  covered  with  -- 
snow.  Between  Newark  and  New  .lersey  there  is  a 
deep  cutting  through  a  basaltic  or  greenstone  rock, 
a  continuation  of  the  mass  which  forms  the  columnar 
precipices  called  the  Palisades,  on  the  Hudson  river, 
above  New  York.  From  the  jagged  face  of  the 
cliffs  in  this  cutting,  were  hanging  some  of  the 
largest  icicles  I  ever  beheld,  reminding  me  of  huge 
stalactites  pendant  frpm  the  roofs  of  limestone  cu- 
verns  in  Europe. 

In  New  Jersey  we  passed  over  a  gently  undula- 
ting surface  of  country,  formed  of  red  marl  and 
sandj^ne,  resembling  in  appearance,  and  of  about 
the  gam^  geololA  age,  as  the  new  red  sandstone 
(trias)  of  Engipf  'The  soil  in  tlxe  fields  is  of  a 


-w 


-inr 


t 


-^>p         -^f-fgf  ■ 


252 


ST.  mart's  hall. 


[Chap.  XIV. 


^ 


I 


i. 


P 


r 


similar  red  Qol(|^s|i(|t||fc^gn8  of  rec<bnt  clearings, 
such  as  the  s|njmp8t#  trfees,  have  nearly  disappeared. 
The  copse^l^imied  of  a  second,  growth  of  wood,  and 
the  style  01  the  fences  round  ^e  fields,  gave  an  En- 
glish aspect  to  the  country.  Wewent  by  Newark, 
Elizabethtown, »  Princeton,^v|iJSiKS?feBor^ntaJiyn, 
and  ^Burlington.  In  some  of  these  *  places,  as  at 
Eli^lijSthtown,  houses  and  churches  have  grown 
up^mind  the  railway;  and  we  passed  through  the 
iiu(al|(^  of  Burlington,  a  great  source  of  convenience 
w^ne  natives,  and  of  amusement  to  the  passengers, 
pm  implying  a  slow  rate  of  travelling.  Hereafter, 
to  enable  express  trains  to  go  at  full  spe*^  from 

'north  to  south,  there  must  be  branch  lines  outside 
the  towns.;!  r 

As  we  passed  Burlington,  a  fellow  paissenger  tolc 
m  that  m^  Episcopalian  college  established  there. 
Called  ^t.  Mfj0^s  Hall,  were -*  hundred  young 
jgitls,  whom  he  called  "  the  holy  innocents,"  assem- 

.  bled  from  every  part  of ^e  Union.     Eighteen  of    ''% 
them  had,  in  Septembef  last!  taken  th(|Rlr  degrees  in 

.  arts,  receiving,^k)m  *^  handi  of  thtii  Bishop  of     " 
New  Jersey,  di^ftjas^eaded  Wy  an  engraving  of  the 
Holy  Virgin  and  Child,  and  issued  M  in  the  name  of 
||e  Father,    Som^M  Holy  (^08t,'^  /B|fe  session 
had  ended  with  tK^  ceremony  dt'lay4i%  and  ccjpe-  '  f. 
\^  crating  the  comeTr-stona  of  "the^^le^  of  the  Holy^*^ 

-innocents  for'  the  irte '  of  JmL  scholars  ^f  St.  -Mary's 
Hall." 
"*"V|'TOther  we  t6ol^  up  a'^lwsPper,  or  listened  to 

I  conversation  in  the  cars,  We  found  that  the  Oregon 
question,  %nd  a  rupturiB  with  England,  were  the  all- 


% 


•He 


A 


% 


Chap.  XIV.]        war  ABOtJT  OEEGON. 


itical^€ 


253 


engrossing  topic  of  politicaJ^^peculation.     The  demo- 
cratic party  are    evidently  N^ntoxicated   with  their 
success  in  having  achieved  the  lannexation  of  Texas, 
and  are  bent  on   future  schemfef  of  territorial  ag- 
grandisement.    Some  talk  of  gaihing  the  whole  of 
Oregon,   others  all  Mexico.     I  heHrd  due   fellow- 
^^  traveller  say  modestly,  "We  are  goin^  on  too  faat; 
%but  Mexico  must  in  time  be  ours."     Oi^  arriving  at 
Philadelphia   I   found   some   of   the   daily;  journals 
written  in  a  tone  well-fitted  t»  create  a  War-panic, 
counting  on  the  aid  of  France  in  the- event  of  a 
8t%gle  witb  Great  Britain;  boasting  that  if  all  the 
eastern  cities  were  laid  in  ashes  by  an  English  fleet, 
they  would  rebuild  them  in  five  years,  and  extinguish 
^1  the  debts  caused  by  the   war  in   thirty  years; 
Weas  England?  borrowing  as  in  the  last  war  many 
™^ed  milUons  sterling,  must  become  bankrupt  or 
Per^ently   crippled   with  taxation.     I   asked  an 
acqlMance,   whether  the  editor   of  such   articles 
secretly  w^d  for  war,  or  wanted  to  frighten  his 
readers  into^ pacific  policy.     "He  has  lately  gone 
over,"  said  he,  "  to  the  protectionist  party.     Having 
made  large  |)urchases  of  shares  in  an  iron  company, 
and  fearing  that,  should  peace  continue,   the   free- 
traders would  lower  the  tariflp,  he  patriotically  hopes 
for  a  war  with  England  to  enable  him  to  make  a 
fortune.     He  is  one  of  those  philanthropic  mono- 
polists who  would  have  joined  in  a  toast  given  some 
years  ago  afa  public  dinner  by  one  of  our  merchants, 
'  May  tlie  waits  of  all  nations  increase,  and  may  they 
be  supplied  by  Pennsylvania.'"     «  But  will  his  war 
dreams  be  realised,  think  you?"    «  Probably  not; 


'  ■■'^m^' 


254 


INCOME  TAX. 


[Chap.  XIV. 


v^ 


1 

1 

yet  the  mere  anticipation  pf  such  a  contingency  is 
doing  mischief,  checking  conimercial  enterprise, 
causing  our  State  bonds  to  fall  in  value,  and  awaken- 
ing evil  passions.  You  will  scarcely  believe  that  I 
have  heard  men  of  respectable  standing  in  the  world  ' 
declare,  that  if  a  war  breaks  out,  we  shall  at  least  be 
able  to  spunge  out  our  »Staite  debt  1" 

I  found  that  the  income  tax  laid  on  to  pay  the 
interest  of  this  debt,  is  weighing  heavily  on  Penn- 
sylvania, and  many  a  citizen  is  casting  a  wistful 
glance  across  the  Delaware,  at  the  untaxed  fields 
and  mansions  of  New  Jersey.  Somcf  manstge  to 
evade  half  their  burdens  by  taking  houses  in  tha^ 
State,  and  resorting  in  the  winter  seaSoii  to  Philar 
delphid,  for  the  sake  of  society.  One  of  the  Phila- 
delphians  assured  me,  that  he  and  others  paid  six- 
teen per  cent,  on  their  income  for  State  tdSxes ;  and 
after  honestly  resjponding  to  all  the  inquisitorial  de- 
mands of  the  collectors,  they  had  the  mortification  of 
thinking  that  men  who  are  less  conscientious  escape 
half  the  impost.  «*  Capital,"  he  said,  "  is  deserting 
this  city,  and  some  thriving  store-keepers,  whom  you 
knew  here  in  1842,  have  transferred  their,,  business 
to  New  York.  In  your  *  Travels  in  America,*  you 
were  far  too  indulgent  to  the  Pennsylvanian  Whigs, 
who  promoted  the  outlay  of  government  money  on 
public  works,  which  has  been  our  ruin.  The  wealthy 
German  farmers  and  democrats  opposed  that  expen- 
diture ;  and  it  is  pot  German  ignorance,  as  some 
Whigs  pretend,  which  has  entailed  debt  and  dis* 
grace  on  this  State,  but  the  extravagance  of  the 
influential  merchants,  who  were  chiefly  Whigs.    You 


I 


iltmmm 


Chap.  XIV.] 


REPUDIATION. 


255 


see'  by  the  papers  that  the  county  of  Lancaster  is 
50,000  dollars  in  arrear  in  the  payment  of  State 
taxesy  ftnd  the  punishment  inflicted  by  government 
is  to  withhold  the  school-money  from  these  defaulters, 
thereby  prolonging  the  evil,  if  it  be  ignorance  which 
has  dulled  their  moral  sense." 

The  reluctance  to  resort  to  coercive  measures,  on 
the  part  of  the  men  in  power,  for  fear  of  endanger- 
ing their  popularity,  is  striking;  and  John  Bull 
would  smile  at  a  circular  just  issued  and  addressed 
by  the  State  treasurer  to  counties,  some  of  which 
are  three  years  in  arrear.  He  praises  others  fwr 
their  cheerful  promptness  in  bearing  their  fair  share 
of  the  puljlic  liabilities,  and  exhorts  the  rest  to  follow 
their  good  example,  for  the  honour  and  credit  of  the 
Commonwealth.  The  necessity  of  compulsory  mea>- 
sures  is  gently  hinted  at  as  a  possible  Contingency, 
should  they  continue  to  fee  defaulters.  As  a  proof, 
however,  that  more  cogent  methods?  of  persuasion  are 
sometimes  resorted  to,  1  see  advertisements  of  the 
sale  of  city  property  for  the  discharge  of  taxes;  and 
it  is  fair  to  presume^  that  patriotic  exhortations  have 
not  always  been  without  effect,  or  they  wQuld  be 
thought  too  ridiculous  to  be  employed. 

I  observed  to  a  friend,  that  when  1  left  the  New 
Englanders,  they  were, decidedly  averse  to^war  about 
Oregon.  «  Yes,"  he  rejoined,  "  but  they  are  equally 
against  free  trade ;  whereM,<j|^eople  in  the  West, 
who  are  talking  so  big  aMt^hting  for  Oregon, 
are  in  favour  of  a  low  tarrff^nd  more  trade  with 
England,  which  would  make  war  impossible.    Which 


;.A,;::.'-:',sas. 


*. 


,i^*^ 


I 


HI 


f* 


ii56  BRITISH  AGGRANDISEMENT.      [Chap.  XIV. 

K 

of  these   two,  think, you,  is  practically  the  peaice 
party?" 

In  the  leading  articles  of  several  of  the  .papers,  I, 
read  some  spirited  recriminations  in  answer  to  En- 
glish censures  on  tl^e  anAexation  of  Texas.    Its  inde- 
pendence, they  say,  had  been  acknowledged  by  CFreat.     ^ 
Britain,  and  its  inhabitants '  had  voluntarily  joined   ^ 
the  Union.     Some  journals  talk  of  following  "the"^^^ 
classical  example  of  the  inother-country*"  and  allude    r^ 
to  the  oonquest  of  Sinde,  and  the  intended  "  siqnex-     " 
ation  of  Borneo."     A  passage  is  also  cited  from  a 
recent  article  in  one  of  the  leading  London  journds," 
to  the  following  effect :  —  "  That  as- the  Punjab  must 
eventuaHy  be  ours,  the  sopWer  we  take  possession  of   "^ 
it  the  better,  and  the  less  blood  and  treasure  will  be 
spent   in   saving  fronr  anarchy  the   richest   part*  ^      ' 
India,"     But  it  is  easier  thuS^ip  recriipiijale  than  to 
reply  to  the  admirable  protest  punished  in  the  |)egin- 
^  ning  of  the  present  year  (January,  ,1845),  by  a^  con- 
vention of  delegates  from  various  and  opposite  poli-   ' 
tical  parties  in  !Ma8sachu8ett8,  which  set  forth,  in 
strong  terms,  the  unjustifiBble  Aiitnner  in  which  Texas 
wa8/)rigijially  filched  from  Mexico,  Jfche  tendency 
of  such  annexation  to  extend  and  up^ffi  slavery,  t^d 
"probkbly  to  Ipad  to  a  Mexican  war."  ' 

During  our  stay  in  Philadelphia,  we  heard  mttcH  ' 
regret  expressed  at  the  establishment  of  what  is  called 
here  an  Irish  quarter,  entailing,  for  the  first  time, 
the  necessity  of  keeping  up  a  more  expensive  (^ol^pe* 
In  the  *iot8  of  May  6.  1844,  many  livdh  were  lopt,  . 
atdd  a  party^has  been  formed  of  native  Americans 
to  resist  wliat  they  call  "  the  papal  garrison,"    Al^ 


>:•"• 


4 


H" 


,  '  » 


•  ?• 


V  ^'  ■■   i       '-^^v      ^stv^v^^'-'^^U^^'^"'^^'  '^  '  ^''■^'■^^'^''^'^■^P'ff^ 


»■' 


[AP.  XIV.]  FRAUDULENT   VOTES.  257  ' 

^      though, much  sectarian  feeling,  mixed  with  the  pre- 
t"- ^^  ''*^^'  "^^y  have  been  betrayed  against  the 
Insh  Romanists,  I  find  it  impossible  not  to  sympa- 
thise with  the  indignation  cherished  here  in  regard  to,' 
the  mterference  of  alien^  with  th^  elections,  and  the 
danger  which  threateitt  the  liberties  of  the  country  ' 
frqm  fraudulei^t  yotiijg.  OnginaUy  a  residence  of  five 
years  was  reqyired.to  confer-  the  electoral  franchise  on 
a  new  settler,  and  the  time  did  not  begin  to  count  tiU 
.   .taft^a  regular  notification  of  fiis  intention  to  settle 
.      jnd  acquire  the  rights' ojfcijiizenship,  accomp"hniedl  by 
,     ^^resweanng  his  allegiance' to  ^y  other  sovereignty. 
The  federalists  imprudently   extended  the   term  to 
[  sixteen  years  4n  the  presidentship  of  Jx)hn  Adams, 
:   whioh  excluded  more  than  hal^  of  the  population 
in  sopie  newly.peopled  districts.     The  original  term 
|-<.Qfffxfe  years  after  registration  tJras  again  restored 
«     if  J^ff#onV^  presidentship,  and'contffaued  till   the 
c^tdst. between  John  Q^infcy  Adams  b,M  Jackson, 
^.v.thep  Mr.  Buchanan  carried-  his  proposition  that,  in- 
"4  of  registration,  two  witnesses  might  dgpc^e  on 
[tf^  that  the  candidate  for  pafuraliiatjon  had  re- 
sided five  ^ears.     This  regulation  has  led  to  mAch 
fraud  and'  perjury;  and  cases  so'  flagn^  have  oo- 
«uri;ed,  that  judges  have  been  cashiered  fiar  conniving 
at  them.     The  same  rules,  however,  are  hot  binding 
in  all  S^te  elections,  for  in  Virginia,  at  present,  the 
right  %  citizenpWf/'  Jeman^«  a  nisidonce  of  seven 
/eap,  'whil^  .in  Michigan,  flew  coiicrs  cjin  vote  two 
years  after  their  arrival.  •   \^^, 

Hov  i«any   of  the  stories  related  y«fl^udulent 
voting  Play  be  true,  J^  cannot  ^retond  t^''4ecijg|  but 


,      *       r 


( 

f  '1 


^ 


■       \ 


"     A 


m 
^ 


:'*! 


Vt 


^l 


*  u 


>■;  A, 


/'W. 


I-,* 

It 


*,:^*,.': 


1,    It 
''  '  •/I 

4 


-V  I  '«9'3^ 


■\H 


258 


FRAUDULENT   VOTES.  [Chap.  XIV. 


I  was  amused  at  thw  number  and  variety.  It  came 
out,  I  am  told,  in  evidence  on  a  late  trial,  that  con- 
victs had  been  carried  to  the  poll  at  New  York,  and 
then  taken  back  to  prison ;  and  that  the  dexterity  of 
those  who  manage  the  Irish  vote  often  consists  in 
making  Paddy  believe  that  he  is  really  entitled  to  thfe 
fb,nchise.  One  of  these  dupes  having  voted  sev^iral 
times  over  fer  one  candidate,  was  at  length  objected 
to,  and  observed  wifh  naivete,  "  that  it  was  hard  that 
his  vote  should  at  last  be  challenged,  when  so  many 
inspectors  had  taken  it  before  that  same  day."  An 
emigrant  ship  arrived  at  Newcastle,  on  the  Delaware, 
in  the  heat  of  an  election  for  governor;  the  Irish 
emigrants  were  asked  if  they  would  support  the  de- 
.mocratic  candidate".  **  We  are  all  for  the  opposition," 
they  replied ;  and  the  ingc^nuity  of  the  canvasser  was 
taxed  to  make  them  comprehend  that  the  Ins  in 
America,  corresponded  in  their  politics  with  the  Outs 
in  Great  Britain. 

Such  anecdotes  prove  indisputably  that  the  purity 
of  the  elections  is  at  least  impeached;' -and  it  miJst 
also  be  borne  in  mind  ifliat  the  system  of  ballot  pre- 
cludes all  scrutiny  after  the  eUiction  is  over. 

Dec.  13.  Wualiinyton.  —  Went  into  the  Hoofe 
of  Bcprcscntatives ;  the  front;  seats  in  the  gal- 
lery are  reserved  for  ladies.  W<'  foimd  the  mem- 
ber for  C/onnccticut,  Mr.  KockvyeJl,  on  his  legs, 
doliveriryj  what  seemed  to  me  an  admirable  8[)eeoh 
against  the  annexation  of  Toxas,  espeeuilly  that  part 
of  its  new  constitution  wliich  jjrohibitiyl  the  F^egis- 
laturc  from  taking  steps  towards  the  hiinrc  abol 
of  slavery.     Some  of  the  reprwentaUvcs  wen 


>bui^6n 

at 


./-  ^, 


[Chap.  XIV. 

.  It  came 
I,  that  con- 
York,  and 
exterity  of 
consists  in 
itled  to  thfe 
ted  sev^iral 
th  objected 
i  hard  that 
n  so  many 
Jay."  An 
Delaware, 
the  Irish 
>rt  the  de- 
pposition," 
vasser  was 
he  Ins  in 
h  the  Outs 

the  purity 
d  it  mUst 
>allot  pre- 

• 

he  Hmme 

the   ^- 

the  mem> 

his   legs, 

)le  B{)eeoh 

that  part 

fie  I^egig- 

'  ttholjitibn 

t^er^Hk- 


Chap.  XIV.]     HOUSE   OF   REPRESENTATIVES.  259 

mg,  Others 'writing,   none  listening.     The  question      .      \ 
Was  evidently  treated  as  oile  gone  by  —  mere  iriktter 
of  history,  which  the  course  of  events  had  consigned 
to  the  vault  of  all  the  Capulets.     Nevertheless,  a 
feeling  of  irritation  and  deep  disgust  is  pervading 
the  minds  of  the  anti-slavery  party  at  this  sudden 
accession  of  new  territory,  open  to  a  slave  popula- 
tion.    A-  powerful  reaction  has   begun   to  display 
itself,  so  that  the  incorporation  of  Texas  into  the 
Union  may  eventually  be  attended  with  consequences 
most  favourable  to  the  good  cause,  rousing  the  whole 
North  to  make  a  stand  against  the  future  extension 
of  slavery.      Mr.  Winthrop   has   hailed   this   more 
hopeful  prospect  in  the  happiest  strain  of  eloquence, 
addressing  « the  lone  star  of  Texas,"  as  it  was  called, 
in  the  w^ords  of  JV^ilton :  — 

^  "  Fairest  of  stars,  last  in  the  train  of  night. 
If  rather  thou  beioijg'st  uot  to  tho  dawn^ 
■    ■  .  '         I  - 

Crossing  the  Rotunda,  we  passed  into  thevSenate, 
and  heard  General  Cass,  of  Michigan,  deliv^ing  a  . 
set  speech  on  the  Qregon  question.  The  rec^it  a(|- 
IJUiBition  of  Texaa,  which  wo  had  heard  ccf^^emned 
in  the  other  House  as  a  foul  blot  on  their  Wation«l 
policy,  WM  boasted  of  by  him  as  a' glorious  triumph 
of  fwedora.  He  d»ew  an  animated  pictures  of  the '  ' 
aggrandising  spirit  of  Great  Britain  with  her  150 
millions  of  subjects,  spoke  of  her  arrogance  and  pride,  %| ' 

the  certainty  of  a  -war.  if  they  wished  to  mainftiin  "      :      ' - 
thoir  just  rigjits,  and  the  necessity  of  an  Immediate  .;' 

armament.  *     * 

"  Greet  Britain."  he  said,  "  might  he  williiife  to \_ 


•> 


260      GENERAL   CASS  —  MB.  WINTHROP..  [Chap.  XIV. 

submit  the  Oregon  question  to  arbitration,  but  the 
crowned  heads,  whom  she  would  propose  as  arbiters, 
would  not  be  impartial,  for  they  would  cherish  anti- 
republican  feelings."  I  thought^  the  style  of  this 
-  oration  better  than  its  spirit^  and  it  was  listened  to 
with  attention;  but  in  spite  of  "the  stirring  nature  of 
the  theme,  none  of  the  senators  betrayed  any  emo- 
tion. ' 

When  he  sat  down,  others  followed,  some  of  whoQi 
read  extracts  from  the  recently  delivered  speeches 
of  Sir  Robert  Peel  and  Lord  John  Russell  on  the 
Oregon  affair,  •  commenting  freely  and  fairly  upon 
them,  and  pointing  oi^t  that  there  was  nothing  in  the 
tone  of  the  British  Government,  nor  in  the  nature  of 
their  demands,  which  closed  the  door  against  an  ami- 
cable adjustment.  I  came  away  from  this  debate 
much  struck  with  the  singular  posture  of  affairs;  for 
the  executive  and  its  functionaries  seem  to  be  doii^ 
their  worst  to  inflame  popular  passions,  while  the 
Legislature,  chosen  by  uniyersal  suffrage,  is  com- 
paratively calm,  and  exhibits  that  sense  of  a  dan- 
gerous  responsibility,  which  i  president  and  hig  cabinet 
might  rather  have  been  expected  to  display. 

In  reference  to  one- of  the  arguments  in  General 
CaAs's  speech,  Mr.  Winthrop  soon  afterwards  moved 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  (Dec.  19.  1845), 
"  That  arbitration  does  not  necessarily  involve  a 
reference  to  crowned  heads;  and  if  a  jealousy  of 
such  a  reference  is  entertamed  in  any  quarter,  a  com- 
miusion  of  able  and  dispassionate  citizens,  either  from 
the  two  countries  concerned,  or  from  the  world  at 


.i.>^ 


*-i 


.\.' 


.^.  'V 


i»~-)  v,-nf<^«  ^ j*T»  '  "CSraC^' 


Chap.  XIV.] 


ARBITRATION. 


261 


large,  offers  itself  as  an  obvious  and  unobjectionable 
alternative." 

A  similar  proposition  emanated  simultaneously,  and 
without  concert,  from  the  English  Cabinet,  showing 
that  they  were  regardless  of  precedents,  and  relied 
on  the  justice  of  their  cpuse.  Although  it  was  de- 
clined, the  mere  fact  of  a  great  nation  having  waived 
all  punctilious  etiquette,  and  offered  to  settle  a  point 
at  issue  by  referring  the  question  to  private  citizens 
of  high  character  and  learned  in  international  law 
proves  that  the  world  is  advancing  in  civilisation,* 
and,  that  higher  principles  of  morality  are  beginnfffg 
to  gain  ground  in  the  intercourse  between  nations. 
"  All  who  ought  to  govern,"  said  a  member  of  Con- 
gress to  me,  "are  of  one  mind  as  to  Lord  Aberdeen's 
*overt^re;  but  they  who  do  govern  here,  will  never 
submit  to  arbitration."  ♦ 

The  senate  consists  at  present  of  fiffy-nine  ^em- 
bers,  and  will  soon  be  augmented  by  two  from  Texas 
and  two  from  Iowa,  the  Union  consisting  now  of 
twenty-seven  states,  with  a  population  of  about 
twenty  millions. 

The  appearance  of  the  members  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  is  gentlemanlike,  although  I  doubt 
dot  that  the  scenes  of  violence  and  want  of  decorum 
deKJribed  by  many  travellers,  aro  correct  pictures  of 
wh«t  they  witnessed.  In  this  nation  of  readers  they 
are  so  sensitive  to  foreign  criticism,  that  amendment 
may  be  confidently  looked  for.  At  this  moment,  the 
papere,  by  way  of  retaliation,  aro  amusing  their 
tmden,  with  extracts  from  a  debate  in  the  Canada 
Ihmm  of  Assembly.     The  following  may  serve  as 


'  I 


''ki\:.."'i*;. 


262 


EECRIMINATION. 


[Chap.  XIV. 


n 


\^ 


,e 


an  example :  — "  Our  Canadian  friends  occasionally 
read  us  a  lecture  on  courtesy  and  order,  we  therefore 
cite  from  a  report  of  their  legislative  proceedings,  ^(^j 
what  we  presume  they  intend  as  a  model  for  our 
imitation.  Mr:  De  B.  appealed  to  the  chair  to  stop 
"  the  member  for  Quebec,  and  threatened,  if  he,  was 
not  called  to  order,  that  he  must  go  over  and  pull 
his  nose ;  at  which  Mr.  A.  rejoined,  *  Cova^i  and  do 
it,  you  scoundrel ! ' "  Another  example  of  recrimin- 
ation that  I  have  lately  seen,  consisted  in  placing^Jp 
two  parallel  columns,  first  an  extract  frgm  the  leaa^ 
^p  ing  article  of  the  London  Times,  rating  i^e  Ameri- 

cana in  good  set  terms  for  their  ruden'^ss  to  each 
'other  in  debute,  and  coarse  abuse  of  England;  and, 
secondly,  an  account  given  by  the  same  journal  of  a 
disorderly  discussion  in  the  House  of  Commons  on  ^^^ 
an  Irish  question,  in  which,  among  other  incidents, 
a  young  member  of  the  aristocracy  (intoxicated'  let 
us  hope)  rose  in  the  midst  of  the  hubbub,  and  imi- 
tated the.  crowing  of  a  cock. 

A  member  of  Congress,  who  frequented,  when  in 
London,  the  gallery  of  the  House  of  Commons,  tells 
me  he  was  struck  with  what  seemed  an  affectation  of 
rusticity,  member^  loUiog  in  lounging  attitudes  on 
the  benches  with  their  hats  on,  speaking  with  their 
hand»  thrust  into  their  breeches  pockets,  and  other  acts, 
as  if  in  defiance  of  restraint.  The  Ei^Ush  method  of 
ooughing  down  a  troublesome  member  is  often  al- 
luded to  here,  and  has,  QWone  occasion,  been  gravely 
.  reoommentded  fortdoptiori,  m  a  parliamentary  u««ge 
which  might  advantageously  l>e  Imitated,  rather  than 
the  limitatio]^  of  eaoh  sjpeaker  to  one  hour,  a  rule 

f 


.  A. 


r'"L.. 


[Chap.  XIV. 

(ccasionally 
e  therefore 
roceedings, 
lei  for  our 
lair  to  stop 

if  Jia  was 
sr  and  pull 
IllBf^and  do 
f  recrimin- 

placinfiS)  hpL 
ji  the  leaff'^ 
^e  Ameri- 
cas to  each 
;land;  and, 
ournal  of  a 
tramons  on  \^. 
•  incidents, 
xicated' let 
J,  and  imi- 

d,  when  in 
inions,  tells 
fectation  of 
ttitudes  on 
with  their 
I  other  acts, 
x  method  of 
s  often  al- 
sen  gravely 
Ltary  uf«age 
rather  than 
jur,  a  rule 


Chap,  XIV.]       INFLATED  ELOQIJENCE. 


263 


now  in  force,  which  has  too  often  the  effect  of 
making  each  oratorT  think  it  due  to  himself  to  occupy 
the  House  for  his  full  term. 

h  would  be  impossible  to  burlesque  or  caricature 
the  ambitious  stylq  of  certain  members  of  Congress, 
especially  some  who  have  risen  from  humble  stations, 
and  whose  schooling  has  been  in  the  back-woods. 
A  grave  report,  drawn  up  in  the  present  session  by 
the  member  for  Illinois,  as  chairman  of  a  Post- 
Office  Committee,  may  serve  &s  an  example.  After 
speaking  of  the  American  republic  as  "the  infant 
Hercules,"  and  the  extension  of  their  imperial  do- 
minion over  the  "northern  continent  and  oriental 
seas,"  he  exclaims,  "the  destiny  of  our  natioij. 
has  now  become  revealed,  and  great  events,  quick- 
ening in  the  womb  of  time,  reflect  their  clearly 
defined  shadows  into  our  very  eye-balls.     " 

"Oh,- why  does  a  cold  generation  frigidly  repel 
anibrosial' gifts  like  these,  or  sacrilegiously  hesitate 
to  embrace  their  glowing  and  resplendent  fate? 

"  Must  tliis  backward  pull  of  the  government 
never  cease,  and  the  nation  tug  for  ever  beneath  a 
dead  weight,  which  trips  its  heels  at  every  stride?" 

From  the  Senate  House,  we  went  to  another  part 
of  the  Capitol  to  hear  Mr.  Webster  plead  a  cause 
before  the  Judges  of  the  Supremo  (Jourt.  These 
judges  wear  black  gjjwns,  and  are,  I  believe,  the  only 
ones  in  the  United  States  who  have  a  CAiatume.  The 
point  at  igsue  was  most  clearly  stated,  nuanely,  whe- 
ther the  city  of  Now  York  had  a  legal  rigto  to  levy 
a  tax  of  one  dollar  on  every  passenger  entering  that 
port,  who  had  never  before  visited  any  port  of  Uie 


A 


l-r 


Si  .1  ■ 


\l 


SUPREME  COURT. 


[Chap.  XIV. 


Union.  The  number  of  emigrants  being  great,  no 
less  than  100,000  dollars  had  beeti  annually  raised 
by  this  impost,  the  money  being  applied  chiefly  as 
an  hospital  fund.  It  was  contended  that  the  Federal 
Government  alone  had  the  right  of  imposing  duties 
on  commerce,  in  which  light  this  passenger  tribute 
ought  to  be  viewed.  The  Court,  however,  ruled 
otherwise. 

It  was  pointed  out  to  me,  as  a  remarkable  proof  of 
the  ascendancy  of  the  democratic  party  in  the  Fe- 
deral Government  for  many  years  past,  that  only  one 
of  all  the  judges  now  on  the  bench  had  been  nomi- 
nated by  the  Whigs. 

One  day,  as  we  were  walking  down  Pennsylvania 
Avenue  with  Mr.  Winthrop,  we  met  a  young  negro 
woman,  who  came  up  to  him  with  a  countenance  full 
of  pleasure,  saying  it  was  several  years  since  she  had 
seen  him,  and  greeting  him  with  such  an  affectionate 
warmth  of  expression,  that  I  began  to  contrast  the 
stiffness  and  coldness  of  the  Anglo-Saxon    mannqrs 
with  the  genial  flow  of  feeling  of  this  southern  race. 
My  companion  explained  to  me,  that  she  was  a  very 
intelligent  girl,  and  was  grateful  to  him  for  an  act  of 
kindness  he  had  once  had  an  opportunity  of  showinff,^ 
her.     I  afterwards  leAmt,  from  some  other  frienc^^^ 
whom  I  told  this  aii©o<|ote,  that  three  years  before, 
Mr.  Winthrop  and  a  brother  member  of  Congress 
fttym  the  North  had  been  lodging  in  the  house   pf 
this  girl's  mistress,  and  hearing  that  she  was  sen- 
tmced  to  be  whipped  for  some  oflPence,  had  both  of 
them  protested  they  would  instantly  quit  the  house 
if  the  mistress  persevered.     She  had  yielded,  and  at 


^4 


-J' 


^?'i'  <s^f*^_p» 


4< 


srjKV'T'iTr'P^'^fViVfllff 


CSAP.   XIV.3 


WASHINGTON. 


265 


been  giving  way  to  a 


length  confessed  that  she 
momentary  fit  of  temper. 

Washington  is  sitpatedin  the  district  of  Columbia 
comprising  an  area  of  100  square  miles,  borrowed 
trom  the  neighbouring  states  to  form  an  independept 
jurisdiction  by  itself.  Several  attempts  have  been 
made  to  declare  it  free,  but  hitherto  in  vain,  thanks 
to  the  union  of  the  northern  democrats  and  southern 
slave-ow^ers,  aided  by  the  impracticable  schemes  of 
the  abolitionists. 

The  view  of  the  city  and  the  river  Potomac  from 
'  the  hill  on  which  the  Capitol  stands  is  fifie ;  but,  in 
epite  of  some  new  public  edifices  built  in  a  handsome 
style  of  Greek  architecture,  we  are  struck  with  the 
small  progress  made  in  three  years  since  we  were  last 
here.     The  vacant  spaces  are  not  filling  up  with  pri- 
vate houses,  according  to  the  origind  plan,  so  that 
the  would-be  metropolis  wears  still  the  air  of  some 
projector's  scheme  which  has  failed     The  principal 
hotels,NAowevfer,  have  improved,  and  we  we^not 
annoyed,  as  when  last  her,e,.  by  the  odours  4eft  in  , 
tlie  room  by  the  coloured  domestics,  who  had  no  beds, 
but  slept  any  where   aWt  the  stairs  or  passages, 
without  changing  their  clothes.    With  similar  habits, 
m  a  hot  clim^e,  no  servants  of  any  race,  whether 
free  or  sl^e,  African  or  European,  would   be  en^ 
durable.   \j.^  . 

Ia\tHfe  pi^lic  museum  at  the  Patent  Office  Lwaa 
glad'to  iee  a  fine  collection  o£  objects  of  nJ^ral 
history  Wuglit  here  by  the  late  Exploring  Expe- 
ditio^,  commanded  by- Captain  Wilken.  Among 
othck  tretiBuros  is  a  splendid  series  of  recflnt  comls. 


N 


FS*fe#"-i'' 


s. 


it 


266  vj  ^ 


■*.■,; 


:  MUSEUM. 


t 


[Ch 


a  good  description  of  which,  illustrated  by  plates, 
will  soon  be  published  by  Mr.  Dana,  at  the  expense 
of  Government.  These  zoophytes  are  accompanied 
by  masses  ofj solidMimestone,  occasionally  including 
shells,  /■ocently  formed  in  coral  reefs,  like  those  men- 
tioned by  Mr.  Darwin  as  occurring  in  the  South 
Seas,  some  as  hard  as  marble,  others  consisting  of 
conglomerates  of  pebbles  and  calcareous  sand.  In 
several  of  the  specimens  I  saw  the  imbedded  zoo- 
phytes and  shells  projecting  from  the  weathered  sur- 
face, as  do  the  petrifactions  in  many  an  ancient 
limestone  where  they  have  resisted  disintegration 
more  than  the  matrix*  Other  fragments  were  as 
white  and  soft  as  chalk ;  one  in  particular,  a  cubic 
foot  in  jj^^f  brought  from  one  of  the  Sandwich 
Island^fl|mt  have  been  mistaken  for  a  piece  of 
Shali^aH|^  Cliff,  near  Dover.  It  reminded  me 
that  aiPl|i|lish  friend,  a  profesisor  of  political  eco- 
nomy, met  me  about  fifteen  years  ago  on  the  beach 
at  Dover,  after  he  had  just  read  nfy  "  Principles  of 
Geology,"  and  exclaimed,  "  Show  me  masses  of  pure 
white  rock,  like  the  substance  of  thes6  cliffs,  in  the 
act  of  growing  in  the  ocean  over  areas  as  large  as 
France  or  England,  and  I  will  believe  all  your  theory 
pS  modern  causesv"  Since  that  time  we  have  ob- 
tained data  for{ inferring  that  the  growth  of  corals, 
and  the  deposition  of  chalk-like  calcareous  mud,  is 
actually  going  on  over  much  wider  areas  than  the 
whole  of  Europe,  so  that  I  ata  now  eiititled  to  claim 
m)  incredulous  friend  as  a  proselyte. 

In  cue  of  the  glass  cases  of  the  Museum  I  saw  the 
huge  skull  of  the  Megatherium,  with  the  remains  of 


tl 


#■ 


V 


■^^^  ' 

by  plate% 
l;he  expensfs 
<;companied 
[y  including 
those  men- 

the  South 
)nsisting  of 
}  sand.  In 
edded  zoo- 
ithered  sur- 
an  ancient 
sintegration 
iB  were  as 
lar,  a  cubic 
B  Sandwich 

a  piece  of 
sminded  me 
olitical  eco- 
n  the  beach 
Principles  of 
sses  of  pure 
cliffs,  in  the 
as  large  as 
your  theory 
re  have  ob- 
Lb  of  corals, 
)us  mud,  is 
Eis  than  the 
led  to  claim 

n  I  saw  the 
remains  of 


#'■ 


\ 


267 


Chap.  XIV.]      SCULPTURE  FROM  PALENQUE. 

Other  extinct  fossil  animals  found  in  GeorgiaXa 
splendid  donation  presented  by  Mr.  Hamilton  Couper^x 
In  another  part  of  the  room  were  objects  of  anti*     \, 
quarian  mterest,  and  among  the  rest  some  sculptured  \ 

stones  from  the  ruins  of  Palenque,  inscribed  with  the 
hieroglyphic  or  picture-writing  of  the  Abodes, 
with  which  Stephens's  lively  work  on  Centrai&e- 
nca,  and  the  admirable  illustrations  of  Catherwood, 
had  made  us  familiar.     The  camp-chest  of  General 
VVashmgton,  his  sword,  the  uniform  worn   by  him 
when  he  resigned  his  commission,  and  even  his  stick, 
have   been   treasured   up   as  relics  in  this  national 
repository.     If  the   proposition  lately  made  in  the 
public  journals,  to   purchase  Washington's  country 
residence  and  negro-houses,  at  Mount  Vernon,  and  to 
keep  them  for  ever  in  the  state  in  which  he  left 
them,  should  be  carried  into  effect,  it  would  not  only 
be  a  fit  act  of  hero-worship,  but  in  the  cou^e  of 
time  this  farm  would  become  a  curious  antiquarian 
monument,  showing  to  after-generations  the  state  of 
agricjilture  at  the   period  when  the  Republic  was 
founded,  and  how  the   old  Virginian   planters  and 
their  slaves  lived  m  the  eighteenth  century. 

Before  leaving  Washington  we  called,  with  Mr 
Wmthrop,  at  the  White  House,  the  residence  of  the 
President.  A  coloired  servant  in  Hvery  came  to  the 
door,  and  conducted  us  to  the  reception-room,  which 
IS  well  piroportioned  and  well  furnished,  not  in  sumi,- 
tuous  style,  but  without  any  affectation  of  republican 
plainness.  We  were  politely  received  by  Mrs.  Polk 
her  husband  being  engaged  6h  public  business.  I  was 
jafterwards^tjtjujejtcLgenj^^ 


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268 


CONVERSATIONS  WITH  [Chap.  XIV. 


i' 


Wilkes,  recently  returned  from  his  expedition  to  the 
South  Seas,  to  Mr.  Bancroft,  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
and  called  on  our  minister,  Mr.  Pakenhara,  and'our 
old  friends,  M.  and  Madame  de  Gerolt,  the  Prussian 
minister  and  his  wife.  B'also  examined  a  fine  col- 
lection of  fossils,  belonging  to  Mr.  Madj;pe,  who  has 
taken  an  active  part  in  founding  an  institution  here 
for  the  promotion  of  science  and  natural  history. 
The  day  before  our  departure  I  had  a  long  and 
agreeable  conversation  with  our  ex-minister,  Mr.  Fox, 
whose  sudden  and  unexpected  d^ath  happened  a  few 
months  later.  I  told  him  that  some  English  tra- 
rellers  wondered  that  I  should  set  out  on  a  long  tour 
when  the  English  and  American  pagprs  were  de- 
scanting on  the  probability  of  a  war.  He  said,  that 
"  when  Macleod  was  detained  priso^aer  in  1841,  there 
was  really  some  risk,  because  he  might  have  been 
hanged  any  day  by  the  New  Yorkers,  in  spite  of  the 
desire  of  the  Federal  Government  to  save  him ;  but 
now  there  is  no  war  party  in  England,  and  all  rea- 
sonable men  here,  including  the  principal  officers  of 
the  army,  and  navy,  are  against  it.  Some  of  the 
Western  people  may  be  warlike,  for  there  are  many 
patriots  who  believe  that  it  is  their  destiny  to  rise 
on  the  ruins  of  the  British  empire ;  but  when  the 
President,  according  to  treaty,  shall  have  given  no- 
tice of  a  partition  of  Oregon,  there  will  be  time  for 
'  negotiation.  If  one  of  two  disputants  threatens  to 
knock  the  other  down  eighteen  months  hence,  wc^ld 
you  apprehend  immediate  mischief?"  "They  are 
not  arming,"  said  I.  «•  No  augury  can  be  drawn 
Orom  that  fact,"  he  applied  ;  "  the  people  are  against 


A 


iHh,'.: 


-  iJ^^ 'mCks-i.iMK.. 


*r^- 


Chap.  XIV.] 


MR.  FOX. 


269 


large  peace  establishments,  knowing  that  there  is  no 
fear  of  hostile  attacks  from  without  unless  they  pro- 
voke them,  and  satisfied  that  their  wealth  and  popu^ 
lation  are  annually  increasing.  They  are  full  of  cou- 
rage,  and  would  develop  extraordinary  resources  in  a 
war,  however  much  they  would  suffer  at  the  first 
onset." 

We  then  conversed  freely  on  the  future  prospects 
of  civdisation  in  the  North  American  continent.     He 
had  formed  far  less  sanguine  expectations  than  I  had 
but  confessed,  that  tliough  he  had  resided  so  manf 
years  m  the  oduntry,  he  knew  little  or  nothing  of 
the  Northern    States,  especially  of  New  England. 
When  I  dwelt  on  the  progress  I  had  witnessed,  even 
in  four  years,  in  the  schools  and  educational  institu- 
tions,  the  increase  of  readers  and  of  good   books, 
and  the  preparations    making  for   future   scientific 
achievements,    he    frankly   admitted   that    he    had 
habitually  contemplated  the  Union  from  a  somewhat 
unfavourable  point  of  view.     I  observed  to  him  that 
Washington  was  not  a  metropolis,  like  London,  nor 
even  like  Edinburgh  or  Dublin,  but  a  town  whi^IiS' 
had  not  thriven  in  spite  of  government  patrona^. 
The  meml)er8  of  Congress  did  not  bring  their  faraiUes 
to  it,  because  it  would  often  take  them  away  from 
larger  cities,  where  they  were  enjoying  more  refined 
and  intellectual  society.     It  was  as  if  the  Legislature 
of  the  British  empire,  representing  not  only  England, 
Scotland,  and  Ireland,  but  Canjida,  Newfoundland] 
the  West  Indies,  Australia,  the  Cape,  and  all  the 
other  dependencies  of  the  British  crown,  were   to 
meet  in  some  third-rate  town.     Nor  even  then  would      ' 

K  a 


/• 


>;-' 


270 


FOREIGN  DIPLOMATISTS.       [Chap.  XIV. 


the  comparison  be  a  fair  one,  because  if  there  be  one 
characteristic  more  than  another  which  advantage- 
ously distinguishes  three-fourths  of  the  Am^can 
population,  it  is  the  high  social,  intellectual,  and  po- 
litical condition,  relatively  speaking,  of  the  working 
classes.  The  foreign  diplomatist  residing  in  Wash- 
ington lives  within  the  borders  of  the  slave  territory, 
where  the  labourers  are  more  degraded,  and  perhaps 
•i^ss  progressive,  than  in^fany  European-  state.  Be- 
sides, the  foreign  ambassador,  in  his  official  and  po- 
litical capacity,  too  often  sees  exposed  the  weak  side 
of  the  constitution  of  the  Union,  and  has  to  deplore 
the  powerlessness  of  the  federal  executive  to  carry  out 
its  own  views,  and  to  control  the  will  of  thirty  inde- 
pendent States,  or  as  many  imperia  in  imperio.  Just 
when  he  may  have  come  to  an  understanding  with 
the  leading  statesmen  on  points  of  intemationid  law, 
so  that  his  negotiations  in  any  other  n^^polis  would 
have  been  brought  to  a  successful  i^iflBfe  finds  that 
the  real  difficulties  are  only  beginfflg.  It  still 
remains  to  be  seen  whether  the  government  is  i^ron^ 
enough  to  contend  with  the  people,  or  has  the  will 
so  to  act,  or  whether  it^wiU  court  popularity  by 
yielding  to  their  prejudices,  or  even  exciting  their 
passions.  Such  is  at  this  moment  the  position  of 
affairs,  and  of  our  niiinister  at  Washington. 


CHAPTER  XV.  /. 

/■■ 

Washington  to  Richmond.— Legislature  of  VirgifHa  in  Seajtion.— 
Svbstitvtion  of  White  for  Slave  Labour.  —  Progress  of  Negro 
Ins^tion.  —  Slave  Dealers.  —  Kindness  to  N^^roes.  'l—  Coal 
of  Oolitic  Period  near  Richmond.  —  Visit  to  the  Minesl  —  Up- 
right Fossil  Trees.— Deep  Shafts,  and  Thickness  ofCok  Seams. 
—  Explosion  of  Oas.  --'Natural  Coke.  — Resemblance  of  the 
more  modsm  Coal-measures  to  old  Carboniferous  Rocks. —^ 
Whites  working  with  free  Negroes  in  the  Mines.       [ 


I  ^ 


Beti  16.  1845.  —  From  Washington  w©  went  to 
Ric^ond,  and  were  glad  to  find  that  the  great' 
southern  line  of  railway  from  Aoquja  Creek  had 
beett  completed  sinqe  we  wer«  last  hSe,  by  which 
we  escaped  twelve  miles  of  jolting  over  a  rough  road, 
described  with  so  much  hu|Q^ur  by  Dickens. 

AtlElichmond  I  went  into  the  Supreme  Court  ©f 
Appeal,  and,  as  I  entered,  heard  the  xiounsel  who  wa« 
pleading,  cite  a  recent  decision  of  the  English  Court 
of  Chancery  as  bearing  on  his  case.  The  Houses  of 
LegisUture  of  Virginia  were  in'  session,  add  I  heard 
part  of  a  debat^  on  a  proposed  railway  from  Balti- 
more to  the  valley  of  the  Great  Kanawha,  in  Wesjtern 
Virginia.  Much  jealousy  was  expressed  lest  the  me- 
tropolis of  Maryknd,  instead  of  Richmond,  should  reap 
the  chief  fruits  of  this  project,  at  which  I  was  not 
surprised ;  for  Virginia,  with  a  population  of  1,10(X000 
inhabitants,  has  no  towns  larger  than  Richmontf  and 


M  4 


t 


Chap.  XV.]     WASHINGTON  TO  BICHMOND. 


271 


"f-^-^W^ 


272   DIVISION  OF  LEGISLATIVE  DUTIES.    [Chap.  XV* 

Norfolk.  Beverley,  and  the  early  writers  on  this 
StjLte,  say,  "that  the  people  were  prevented  fi-om 
congregating  in  large  towns  by  the  enjoyment  of  an 
extensive  system  of  river  navigation,  which  enabled 
merchant  ships  to^'sail  up  everywhere  to  the  ware- 
houses of  each  planter  and  receive  their  freight. 
Hence  there  was  less  acti^y  and  enterprise,  and  a 
want  of  the  competition,  wbfeh  the^collected  life  in 
cities  promotes."*  *  "; 

One  of  the  senators,  whom  I  had  met  the  day 
before  at  a  dinner  party,  conversed  with  me  on  the 
publication  of  the  geological  maps  and  reports  of  the 
State  survey,  which  have  been  admirably  executed 
under  the  direction  of  Professor  W.  B.  Rogers. 

The  division  of  legislative  dutrii- Between  a  central 
power,  such  as  I  had  just  seen  d^berating  at  Wash- 
ington, and  the  separate  and  indepei;i^nt  States,  such 
as  that  now  in  simultaneous  action  here  at  Richmond, 
seeihs  the  only  form  fitted  for  a  widely  extended 
empire,  if  the  representative  system  is  to  prevail.  The 
present  population  of  the  different  States  may  be 
compared  on  an  average  to  that  of  English  counties; 
or,  at  least,  to  colonies  of  the  British  empire.  At  the 
same  period  of  the  year,  when  ei^ch  is  managing  its 

own  affairs  in  regard  to  internal  improvements, 

schools,  colleges,  police,  railways,  canals,  and  direct 
taxes, — the  central  ptirliament  is  discussing  questions 
of  foreign  policy — the  division  of  Oregon,  the  state  of 
the  army  and  navy,  questions  of  free  trade,  and  a 
high  or  low  tariff 

♦  See  "  Graham's  History,"  vol.  i.  p.  145. 


>  -'"  -.n^-v^^^v 


\ 


Chap.  XV.]' 


VIRGINIA. 


273 


.  „  By  aid  of  raUways,  steamers,  and  the  electric  tele- 
graph, it  might  be  possible  to  conduct  all  the  busi- 
ness of  the  twenty-seven  States  at  Washington,  but 
not  with  the  same  efficiency  or  economy;  for,  in  that 
case,  the  attention  of  the  members  of  the  two  Houses 
of  Congress  would  be  distracted  by  the  number  and 
variety  of  subjects  submitted  to  them,  and  the  lead- 
ing statesmen  would  be  crushed  by  the  weight  of 
official  and  parliamentary  business.- 

While  at  Eichmoiid,  we  saw  some  agreeable  and 
refined  society  in  the  families  of  the  judges  of  thd 
Supreme  Court  and  other  lawyers,  but  there  is  little 
here  of  that  activity  of  mind  and  feeling  for  literature 
8|id  science  which  strikes  one  in  the  best  circles  in 
New   England.     Virginia,    however,    seems  to  be 
rousing  herself,  and  preparing  to  make  an  efort  to 
enlarge  her  resources,  by  promoting  schools  /iind  in- 
ternal improvements.     Her  pride. has  beer/ hurt  at 
seeing  how  rapidly  her  old  political  ascendancy  has 
passed  away,  and  how,  with  so  large  and  rich  a  terri- 
tory, she  has  been  outstripped  in  th?  race  by  newer 
States,  especially  Ohio.     She  is  imwilling  to  believe 
that  her  negro  population  is  the  "chiiSf  obstacle  to  her 
onward  march,  yet  cannot  shut  her  eyes  to  the  fact 
that  the  upper  or  hilly  region  of  the  Alleghanies, 
where  the  whites  predominate,  has  been  advancing 
in  a  more  rapid  ratio  than  the  eastern  counties.    The 
whites  who  live  west  of  the  Blue  Bidge  are  about 
equal  in  number  to  those  who  live  east  of  it;  but  the 
eastern  division,  or  lower  country,  owns  a  greater 
number  of  slaves,  and'  in  right  of  them  has  more 
votes.     Th^  western  men  are   talking  loudly^  of  a 

'—  H   S  '  — 


t 


\ 


%*»• 


?•*. 


274 


WHITE  AND  SLAVE  LABOUE.     [Chap.  XV. 


V 


tjonveation  to  place  them  oi^more  equal  footing, 
some  even  desiring  a  sefllKtion  into  two  states. 
There  has  also  been  a  suggestion,  that  it  might  be 
well  to  allow  a  single  county  to  declare  itself  free, 
withoHt  waitmg  for  the  emancipation    of   others. 
Among  other  signs  of  approaching  change,  I  am  told 
that  several  new  settlers  from  the  north  have  made  a 
practical  demonstration  that  slave  kbour  is  less  pro- 
fitable, even  east  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  than  that  of  free 
whites.  As  we  sailed  down  the  Potomac  from  Wash- 
ington, a  landed  proprietor  of  Fairfajc  county  pointed 
out  to  me  some  estates  in  Vii^inia,  on  the  right  bink 
of  the  river,  in  which  free  had  been  substituted  for 
slave  labour  since  I  was  here  in  1841.   Some  farmere 
came  from  New  Hampshire  and  Connecticut,  and, 
having  bought  tlie  land  at  five  dollars  an  acre,  tifled 
it  with  their  own  hands  and  those  of  their  family, 
aided  in  some  cases  by  a  few  hired  Whites.     To.  the 
astonishment  of  the  surrounding  planters,  before  the 
end  of  four  years,  they  had  raised  the  value  of  the 
soil  from  five  to  forty  dollars  per  acre,  having  intro- 
duced for  the  first  time  a  rotation  of  corn  and  green 
crops,  instead  of  first  exhausting  the  soil  and  then 
letting  it  lie  fallow  for  years  to  recover  itself.     They 
hare  also  escaped  the  ruinous   expense  of   feeding 
lai^e  bodies  of  negroes  in  those  seasons  when  the 
harvest  is  deficient     They  do  not  pretend  to  indulge 
in  that  hospitality  for  which  the  old  Virginians  and 
North  Carolinians  were  celebrated,  who  often  mort- 
gaged their  estates  to  pay  the  annual  salary  of  their 
overseer,  till  he  himself  became  the  proprietor.     The 
master,  in  that  case,  usually  migrated  with  part  of  his 


*  J* 


^^ 


^t      *"'  ^'^i^^'-    "'K,^  "-j-'v    "^-C'  '^*^.^^'sv^^tf")g^^*'^  -^i^ss^ 


-^  Ffc/-j"f-p^ s''    »  H'^-V^*  ' 


Chap.  XV. 

footing, 

0  fltateg. 
might  be 
self  free, 

others. 

1  am  toM 
B  made  a 
less  pro- 
it  of  free 
Q  Wash- 
'•  pointed 
;ht  hiaik 
iuted  for 

I  farmers 
nt,  and, 
•e,  tilled 
family. 
To.  the 
sfore  the 
e  of  the 
g  intro- 
id  green 
od  then 
They 
feeding 
hen  the 
indulge 
ans  and 
D  mort- 
of  their 
•.  The 
:t  of  his 


Chap.  XV.]  NEGBO  INSTRUCTION. 


275 


negroes  to  settle  farther  south  or  south-west,  intro- 
ducing into  the  new  states  more  civilised  habits 
and  manners  than  would  have  belonged  to  them  had 
they  been  entirely  peopled  by  adventurers  from  the 
North  or  from  Europe. 

On  Sunday,  December  tjie  2l8t,  we  attended  ser- 
vice in  a  handsome  new  Episcopal  church,  called  St. 
Paul's,  and  heard  the  rector  announce  to  the  congre- 
gation that  a  decision  had  just  been  come  to  (by  a 
majority  of  all  the  proprietors  of  the  church,  as  I  was 
afterwards  informed)  that  one  of  the  side  galleries 
should  sjienceforth  be  set  apart  exclusively  for  people 
of  colour.     This  resolution,  he  said,  had  been  taken 
in  order  that  they  and  their  servants  might  unite  in 
the  worship  of  the  seme  God,  as  they  Iwped  to  enter 
hereafter  together  into  his  everlasting  kingdom,  if 
they  obeyed  his  laws.     I  inquired  whether  they 
would  not  liave  done  more  towards  raising  the  slaves 
to  a  footing  of  equality  in  the  house  of  prayer  if  they 
had  opened  the  same  galleries  to  negroes  and  whitrf 
In  reply,  I  was  assured  that,  in  the  present  kate  wf 
social  feeling,   the  coloured  people  would  gain  less 
by  such  joint  occupancy,  because,  from  their  habitual 
deference  to  the  whites,  they  would  yield  to  them 
all  the  front  places.     There  were  few  negroes  pre- 
sent, but  I  am  told  that  if  I  went  to  the  Baptist 
or  Methodist  churches  I  should  find  the  galleries 
quite  full.     There  are  several  Sunday  schools  here 
for  negroes,  and  it  is  a  singular  fact,  that  in  spite  of 
the  law  agftiniit  instructing  slaves,  many  of   the 
whites  have  been  ta^ight  to  read  by  negro  nunsee. 
A  large  proportioa  of  the  slaves  and  free  coloiwed 


Ijb' 


r 


»  6 


*TS  S^Jtn 


27S 


NEGRO  SLAVERY. 


[Chap.  XV. 


people  here  are  of  mixed  breed.     The  employment 
ot  this  class  as  in-door  servants  in  cities  arises  partly 
from   the   interest   taken   in   them   by   their  white 
parents,   who  have   manumitted   them  and    helped 
them  to  rise  in  the  world,  and  partly  because  the 
nch  prefer  them  as  domestic  servants,  for  their  ap- 
pearance is  more  agreeable,  and  they  are  more  intel- 
ligent.    Whether  their  superiority  is  owing  to  phy- 
sical causes,  and  that  share  of  an  European  organi- 
sation which  they  inherit'  in  right  of  one  of  their 
parents,  or  whether  it  may  be  referred  to  their  early 
intercourse  and  contact  with  the  whites,  in  other 
words,  to  a  better  education,  is  still  matter  of  con- 
troversy.- 

Several  Virginian  planters  have  spoken  to  me  of  the 
negro  race,  as  naturally  warm-hearted,  patient,  and 
cheerful,  grateful  for  benefits,  and  forgiving  of  inju- 
ries. They  are  also  of  a  religious  temjperament  border- 
ing on  superstition.  Even  those  who  think  they  ouo-ht 
for  ever  to  remain  in  servitude  give  them  a  charac'Jer 
which  leads  one  to  the  belief  that  steps  qught  long 
ago  to  have  been  taken  towards  their  gradual  eman- 
cipation.     Had  some  legislative  provision  been  made 
with  this  view  before  the  annexation  of  Texaa    a 
period  being  fixed  after  which  aU  the  children  bom 
m  this  State  should  be  free,  that  new  territory  would 
have  afforded  a  useful  outlet  for  the  black  population 
of  Virginia,   and  whites  would  have   suppUed  the 
vacancies  which  are  now  filled  up  by  the  breeding  of 
negroes.     In  the  absence  of  such  enactments,  Texas 
prolongs  the  duration  of  negro  slavery  in  Virginia, 
aggravating  one  of  its  worst  consequences,  the  in- 


^^3,jai5,sef  ,\-- '»i7"  '    ""5«* 


Chap.  XV.] 


SLATE-DEALERS. 


277 


ternal  slave   trade, -%nd  keeping  up  the    price   of 
negroes   at  home.     They  are  now  selling  for  500, 
750,  and  1000  doUars  each,  according  to  their  qHiali- 
fications.     There  are  always  dealers  ajt  Kichmond, 
whose  business  it  is  to  coUect  slaves  for  the  southern 
market,  and,  until  a  gangjs  ready  to  start  for  the 
south,  they  are  kept  here  well  fed,  and  as  cheerful 
as  possible.     In  a  court  of  the  gaol,  where  they  aVe 
lodged,  I  see  them  every  day  amusing  themselves  by 
playing  at  quoits,    How  much  this  traffic  is  abhorred, 
even  by  those  who  encourage  it,  is  shown  by  the  low 
social  position  held  by  the  dealer,  even  when  he  has 
made  a  large  fortune.     When  they  conduct  gangs  of 
fifty  slaves  at  a  time  across  the  mountains  to  the 
Ohio  nver,  j;hey  usuaUy  manacle  some  of  the  men 
but  on  reaching  the  Ohio,  they  have  no  longer  any 
fear  of  their  ^tempting  an  escape,  and  they  then 
unshackle  them.' 

That  the  condition  of  slaves  in  Virginia  is  steadily 
improving  aU  here  seem  agreed.     One  of  the  great- 

7{Zl        Ar^"  ^1?^  compulsoi7  sepamtion 
of  members  of  the  8ame,||iily.    Since  my  arrival  at 
Richmond,  a  case  has  fc  to  my  knowledge  of  a 
negro  who  petitioned  a  rich  individual  to  purchase 
him,  because  he  was  going  to  be  sold,  and  was  in 
danger  of  being  sent  to  New  Orleans,  his  wife  and 
child  remammg  m  Virginia.     But  such  instences  are 
far  less  common  than  would  be  imagined,  owing  to 
the  kind  feehng  of  the  southern  planters  tc^i* 
their  "own  people,"  a^  tjiey  caU  them.     Even  in 
extreme  cases,  where  the  property  of  an  insolvent 
IS  brought  to  the  hammer,  public  opinion  acts  aa  a 


'^ 


' 


ki  r^ 


-t 


r.. 


m 


278  KINDNESS  TO  NEGROES.         [Chap.  XV. 

powerful  check  against  the  parting  of  kindred.     We 
heard  of  two  recent  cases,  one  in  »which  the  parents 
■were  put  up  without  their  children,  and  the  mother 
being  in  tears,  no  one  would  bid  till  the  dealer  put 
the   children^  up  also.     They  then  sold  very  .well.  ^ 
Another,  where  the'  dealer  was  compelled,^  in  like 
manner,  to  sell  a  father  and  son  together.     I  learnt 
with  pleasure  an  anecdote,  from  u&doiflited  authority,  ^ 
very  characteHstic  of  the  indulgence  of  ow^rs  of  the 
higher   class  of  society  here[  towards  their  slaves. 
One  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  at)Eich- 
mond  having  four  or  five  supernumerary  negroes  in 
i^is   establishment,   proposed  to  them  to  go  to  his 
plantation  ij\  the  countly.     As  they  had  acquired 
town  habits,  they  objected,  and  begged  him  instead 
to  look  out  for  a  good  master  who  would  carry  them 
to  a  city  farther  south,  where  they  might  enjoy  a 
warm   climate.     The  judge /accordingly   made   his    ' 
arrangements,  and,  for  the  sake  of  securing  the  de- 
sired conditions,  was  to  receive  for  each  a  price  below  - 
their  market  value.      Just  as  they  were  aboift  to 
leave  Richmond  for  Louisiana,  one  of  the  women 
turned  faint-hearted,  at  which  all  the  rest  lost  cou- 
rage ;  for  their  local  ai\d  personal  attachmei&ts  are  very 
«trong>'altl»ough  they  seem  alway^s  ready  to  migrate 
cheerfully  to  any  |)art  of  the  world  with  their  owneiB. 
The  affiur  ended  in  the  good-natured  j^ge  having 
to  rq)urcha8e  them,  paying  the  difference  of  price    r 
between  the  sum  agreed  upo»  for  each,  and  what 
^-  Jthey  would  have  fetched  at  an  auction. 

Great  sacrifices  are  often  made  from  a  sense  of 
.    duty^by  i^taining  possession  of  inherited  estatefe. 


FW^r'"* 


'^^  <     * 


/ 


KINDNESS  TO  NEGROES". 


279 


{ 


Ohap.  iv.] 

which  it  would  be  most  desirable  to  sfell,  aid  which 


the  owners  cannot  part  with,  because  they  fu}  it 
would  be.  wrong  to  abandon  the  slaves  to  an  unknown 
purchaser.     We  became  acquainted  with  the  family 
of  a  widow,,  who  had  six  daughters  and  po  son  to 
take  on  himself  the  -jnanagement  of  a  gantation, 
^alway^  a  jrfsponsible,  and  often  4  very  ai#ult  un- 
dertaking.   It  was  felt  by  all  the  relativesiirli  neigh- 
b<ni»to  be  most  desirable  that  tlie  property,  situated 
m  a  remofe  part  oj^e  country  near  the  sea,  fcid 
be  sold,  in  order  that  the  young  ladies  and  th'eir 
mother  should  have  th6  benefit  of  society  in  a  large 
town.    Jhey  wished  it  themselves,   being  in  very 
moderate  circumstances,  but  w^e  withheld  by  con- 
scientious motives  frem  leaving  a  large  body  of  de- 
pendents, whom  tjhey  had  knowij  from  thdr  child- 
lw)d,  and  who  could  scarcely  hope  to  be  treated  with,, 
the  same  indulgence  by  stran^rs. 

I  had  stopped  at  Richmond  on'my  way  south,  for 
the  sake  of  exj^oriftg  geologically  some  coal  mines,  dis- 
tant about  thirteen  miles  from  the  city  to  the  west-  ' 
ward.  Someof  the  largest  apd  mostpf^uctive  of  these," 
situated  in  Chesterfield  County,  belong  to  an  English 
company,  and  one  of  them  was  under  the  management 
of  Mr.  A.  F.  Giffbrd,  formerly  an  bffio^  in  the  Britklf 
army,  and  marricii  to  a  Virginian  lady."' At  their 
agreeaWe  residence,  near  the  Blackheath  mines,  we 
were  received  most  kindly  and  hospitably.     Op  our 
road  frotti  Eichmond,  we  passed  many  fields  which 
had  been  left  faUow  fop^years,  after  havip^  been  ex- 
hausted bjr-a  crop  of  tobacco.     The  whole  couiitry    ' 
was  cprered  wi&  «now,  and,  in  tl^e  pine  forests,  the     - 


^  >• 


-c^  ' 


J 


.U. 


t^j 


COAL   OF  OOLITIC   PERIOD  [Chap.  XV. 

'  tall  l^unks  of  the  trees  had  a  white  coating  on  their 
windward  side,  as  if  one  half  had  been  painted.  I 
persevered,  nevertheless;  in  my  examination  of  the 
mines,  for  my  underground  work-  was  not  impeded 
by  the  weathey,  and  I  saw  so  much  that  was  new, 
and  of  high  scientific  interest  in  this  coal-field,  that 
I  returned  the  following  spring  ta  complete  my 
survey.       *  .. 

There  are  two  regions  in  the  State  of  Virginia 
(a  -country  about  equal   in   area   to  the   whole   of 
England  proper),  in  which  productive  coal-measures 
occur.     In  one  of-  these,  which  may  be  called  the 
western  coal-field,  .the  strata  'belong  to  the  ancient 
carboniferous  group,  characterised  by  fossil  plants  of 
the  same  genera,  and,  to  a  great  extent,  the  same 
species  a8'1;hose  found  in  the  ancient  coal-measures 
of  Europe.     The  other  one,  wholly  disconnected  in 
its  geographical  and  geological  relations,  is  found  to 
the  east  of  the  Appalachian  Mountains,  in  the  middle 
of  that  granitic  region,  sometimes  called  the  Atlantic 
Slope.  *     In  consequence  of  the  isolated  position  of 
these  eastern  coal-beds,  the  lowest  of  whichj  rest  im- 
mediately  on   the  fundamental   granite,    while  the 
uppermost  are  not  covered  by  any  overlying  fossili- 
ferous  formations,  we  have  scarcely  any  means  of 
determining  their  relative  age,  except  by  the  cha- 
racters of  their  included  organic  remains.    The  study 
of  these,  induced  Professor  W.  B.  Rogers,   in  his 
memoir,,  published  in  1842 f,  to  declare  his  opinion 

*  See  geological  map  of  the  U.  S.  in  my  "  Travels  in  North 
America,"  vol.  i.  and  ii.  p.  92. 
t  Trans,  of  American  Geologists,  p.  298. 


Chap.  XV.] 


NEAR   BICHMOND. 


281 


that  this  coal  waa  of  newer  date  than  that  of  the 
Appalachians,  and  waa  about  the  age  of  the  Oolite  or' 
Xiaa,  a  conclusion  which,  after  a  careful  examination 
of  the^evidence  on  the  spot,  and  of  all  the  organic 
remains  which  I  could  collect,  appears  to  me  to  come 
very  near  the  truth.     If  we  embrace  this  conclusion, 
these  rocks  are  the  only  ones  hitherto  known  in  aU 
Canada  and  the  United  States,  which  we  can  prove, 
by  thefr  organic  remains,  tjHe  of  contemporaneous 
origin  with  the  Oolitic  or  JSfasaic  formation  of  Eu- 
rope.   The  tract  of  country  occupied  by  the  crystalline 
rocks,  granite,  gnei88,-*hornblende-schi8t,  and  others, 
which  runs  parallel  to  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  and 
between  them  and  the  sea,  is  in  this  part  of  yir- 
ginia  about-seventy  miles  broad.    In  the  midst  of  this 
area  occurs  the  coal-field  alluded  to,  twenty-six  miles 
long,  alDd  varying  in  breadth  from  four  ,to  twelve 
miles.     The  James  river  flows  through  the  middle  of 
it,  about  fifteen  miles  from  its  northern  extremity, 
while   the  Appomattox   river   traverses   it  near  its 
southern  borders.     The  beds  lie  in  a  trough  (see  sec- 
tion, fig.  4.  p.  283.),  the  lowest  of  them  usually  highly 
inclined  where  they  crop  out  along  the  margin  of  the 
bftsin,  while  the  strata  higher  in  the  series,  occupying 
the  central  parts  of  the  area,  and  which  are  devoid  of 
^rganic  remains  and  of  coal,  are  nearly  horizontal.      ^ 
A  great  portion  of  these  coal-measures  consists  of 
quartzose  sandstone   and  coarse  grit,  entirely  com- 
posed of  the  detritus  of  the  neighbouring  granitic  and 
syenitic  rocks.     Dark  carbonaceous  shales  and  clays, 
occasionally  charged  with  iron  ores,  abound  in  the 
proximity  of  the  coal-scams,  and  numerous  impres- 


.V 


/ 


^1 


282  UPRIGHT  FOSSIL   TBEE8.         [Chap.  XV. 

sions  of  plants,  chiefly  ferns  and  Zamites,  are  met 
with,  in  shales,  together  with  flattened  and  prostrate 
stems  of  Calamites  and  Equisetum.  These  last;  how- 
ever, the  Calamites  and  Equisetum,  are  very  com- 
inonly-met  with  in  a  vertical  position,  more  or  less 
compressed  perpendicularly.  I  entertain  no  doubt 
that  the  greater  number  of  these  plants  standing 
erect  in  the  beds  above  and  between  the  seams  of 
coal  which  I  saw  at  points  many  miles  distant 
from  each  other,  have  grown  in  the  places  where  they 
are  now  buried  in  sand  and  mud,  and  this  fact  impUes 
the  gradual  accumulation  of  the  coal-measures  during 
a  slow  and  repeated  subsidence  of  the  whole  region. 

A  great  number  of  fossil  fish,  chiefly  referable  to 
two  nearly  aUied  species  of  a  genus  very  distinct  from 
any  ichthyolite  hitherto  discovered  elsewhere  (a  ganoid 
with  a  homocercal  tail),  occur  in  the  lower  strata,  with 
a  few  sheUs ;  but  they  aflPorded  me  no  positive  cha- 
racters to  determine  whether  the  deposit  was  of  marine 
or  freshwater  origin.     Above  these  fossiliferous  beds, 
which   probably   never  exceed   400  or  600  feet  in 
thickness,  a  great  succession  of  grits,  sandstone^  and 
•hales,  of  unknown  depth,  occur.     They  have  yielded 
no  coal,  nor  as  yet  any  organic  remains.  No  speculator 
^has  been  bold  enough  to  sink  a  shaft  through  them, 
apd  it  is  believed  that  toward  the  central  parts  of 
the  basin  they  n^ight  have  to  pass  through  2000  or 
2fl00  feet  of  sterile  rocks  before  reaching  the  funda^ 
mental  coal-seams. 

The  annexed  ideal  section  will  show  the  manner 
in  which  I  suppose  the  coal-field  to  be  placed  in  a 
hollow  in  thp  granitic  rooks,  the  whole  country  having 


■Jr 


[Chap.  XV. 

9,  are  met 
i  prostrate 
i  last,  how- 
very  com> 
ore  or  less 
no  doubt 
s  standing 
3  seams  of 
ies  distant 
Inhere  they 
Eict  implies 
ires  during 
le  region, 
sferable  to 
Jtinct  from 
e  (a  ganoid 
trata,  with 
sitive  cha- 
I  of  marine 
irous  beds, 
)0  feet  in 
JtonOi  and 
ve  yielded 
speculator 
igh  them, 
I  parts  of 
2000  or 
he  fundar 

3  manner 
need  in  a 
"y  having 


Chap.  XV.]      THICXNE8S  OP  COAL-SEAMS.  283 

suffered  by  great  denudation,  and  the  surface  having 
been  planed  off  almost  uniformly,  and  at  "the  same 
time  overspread  by  a  deep  covering  of  gravel  with 

Section  showing  the  GeohgiccU  Position  of  the  James  River,  or  East 
Virginian  Coal- Field. 
Fi".   4 


A.  GranitA,  gneiii,  Ac. 
C.  Tertiary  strata. 


B.  Coal-maasurei. 

D.  Drift  or  ancient  alluvium.' 


red  and  yellow  clay,  concealing  the  subjacent  forma- 
tion from  view,  so  that  the  structure  of  the  region 
could  not  be  made  out  without  difficulty  but  for 
artificial  excavations.  It  will  be  seen  by  the  section 
that  the  tertiary  strata  first  make  their  appearance 

•  at  Richmond  about  thirteen  miles  from  the  eastern 
outcrop  of  the  coal,  and  they  continue  to  occupy  the 
lower  country  between  that  city  and  the  Atlantic 

The  only  beds  of  coal  hitherto  discovered  lie  in  the 
lower  part  of  the  coal-measures,  and  consequently 
oomo  up  to  the  surface  all  round  the  margin  of  the 
basin.  As  the  dip  is  usually  at  a  considerable  angle, 
vertical  shafts,  from  400  to  800  feet  deep,  are  re- 
quired to  reach  the  great  seam,  at  the  distance  of  a 
few  hyndred  yards  inside  the  edge  of  the  basin.  It 
18  only,  therefore,  along  a  narrow  band  of  oountry 
that  the  c<(al  can  crop  out  naturally,  and  even  here 
It  is  rarely  exposed,  and  only  where  a  river  or  valley 
has  cut  through  th,o  superficial  drift,  often  thirty  or 

.  joriy  icct  tmek.     The  j^Hpi^ipul  cooh-seam^  occtTO  in 


A 


!  I 


>,  I 


284      VEGETABLE   STRUCTURE   OF   COAL.  [Chap.  XV. 

greatest  force  at  Blackheath  and  the  adjoining  part§ 
of  Chesterfield  county,  where  the  coal  is  for  the  most 
part  very  pure,   and  actually  attains   the  unusual 
thickness  of  between  thirty  or  forty  foet.     I  wa^ 
not  a  little  surprised,  when  I  descended,  with  Mr 
Gifford,  a  shaft  800  feet  deep,  to  find  myself  in  a 
chamber  more  than  forty  feet  high,  caused  by  the 
removal  of  the  coal.     Timber  props  of  great  strength 
are  required  to  support  the  roof,  and  although  the 
use  of  wood  is  lavish  here,  as  in  most  parts  of  the 
United  States,  the  strong  props  are  seen  to  b^nd 
under  the  incumbent  weight.     This  great  seam  is 
sometimes  parted  from  the  fundamental  granite  by 
an  inch  or  two  of  shale,  which  seems  to  have  con- 
stituted the  soil  on  which  the  plants  grew.    At  some 
points  where  the  granite  floor  touches  the  coal,  the 
contact  may  have  been  occasioned  by  subsequent  dis- 
turbances, for  the  rocks  are  fractured  and  shifted  in 
many  places.    This  more  modern  coal,  as  well  as  that 
of  Newcastle,  and  other  kinds  of  more  ancient  date, 
exhibits  under  the  microscope  distinct  evidence  of 
vegetable  structure,  consisting  in  this  case  princi- 
pally of  parallel  fibres   or  tubes,    whose  walls  are 
covered  with  prominent  glands  (a.  d.  fig.  5.),  or  are 
pierced  with  circular  or  elongated  holes.    'See  fig  5 
B  and  P.  ^ 

By  analysis  it  is  found  that  so  far  as  relates  to  the 
proportions  of  carbon  and  hydrogen,  the  composition 
of  this  coal  is  identical  with  that  of  ojcdinary  specimens 
of  the  most  ancient  coal  of  America  and  Europe,  al- 
though the  latter  has  been  derived  from  an  assemblage 
of  plants  of  very  distinct  species.     The  bituminous 


«■ 

t 

/ 


.-^^ 


.  [Chap.  XT. 

lining  partg 
3r  the  most 
le   unusual 
St.     I  wa^ 
,  with  Mr. 
lyself  in  a 
sed  by  the 
at  strength 
hough  the 
arts  of  the 
n  to  b^nd 
it  seam  is 
yranite  by 
have  con- 
At  some 
i  coal,  the 
quent  dis- 
shifted  in 
ell  as  that 
sient  date, 
ddence  of 
8e  princi- 
walls   are 
.),  or  are 
Jee  fig.  5. 

tes  to  the 
tnposition 
pecimens 
irope,  al- 
semblage 
tuminous 


Chap.  XV.]  EXPLOSION  OF  GAS.    '  285 

coal  for  example,  of  the  Ohio  coal-field,  and  that  of 
Alabama,  yields  the  s^me  elements.  - 
1   F^^'J^'^'^y  y«^^«  the  cities  of  New  York  and  Phi- 
ladelphia have  been  supplied  with  gas  for  lightino- 


reffetable    Structure    of    Mineral    Charcoal   from    Clover-hiU     Mines, 

Virginia. 

their  streets  and  houses,  from  coal  of  the  Blackheath 
mines,  and  the  annual  quantity  taken  by  Philadelphia 
alone,  has  of  late  years  amounted  to  10,000  tons. 
We  might  have  expected,  therefore,  that  there  would 
be  danger  of  the  disengagement  of  inflammable  gases 
from  coal  containing  so  much  volatile  matter.  Ac- 
cordingly, here,  as  in.  the  English  coal-pits,  fatal  ex- 
plosions have  sometimes  occurred.  One  of  those 
happened  at  Blackheath  in  1839,  by  which  forty-five 
negroes  and  two  white  overseers  lost  their  lives;  and 
another  almost  as  Bcrious,  so  ktejy^as  theypg.;  Ig44^ 


286  MODERN  AND  ANCIENT  COAL-FIELDS.  [Chap.  XV. 

Before  I  examined  this  region,  I  was  told  that  a 
strange  anomaly  occurred  in  it,  for  there  were  beds  of 
coke  overlying  others  consisting  of  bituminous  coal.  I 
found,  on  visiting  the  various  localities  of  this  natural 
coke,  that  it  was  caused  by  the  vicinity  or  contact  of 
volcanic  rocks  (greenstone  and  basalt),  which,  boming 
up  through  the  granite,  intersect  the  coal  ijieasures, 
or  sometimes  -make  their  way  laterally  bety^een  two 
strata,  appearing  as  a  conformable  mass.  As  in  the 
Durham  coal-field  in  England  (in  the/ilaswell  col- 
lieries, for  example),  the  igneous  rock  lias  driven  out 
all  the  gaseous  matter,  and,  where  it  overlies  it,  has 
deprived  the  upper  coal  of  its  volatile  ingredients,,, 
while  its  influence  has  not  alwa^js  extended  to  lower 
seams.  In  some  spots,  the  cojiversion  of  coal  into 
coke  seems  to  have  been  brought  about,  not  so  much 
by  the  heating  agency  of  the  intrusive  basalt,  as  by 
its  mechanical  .effect  in  breaking  up  and  destroying 
the  integrity  of  the  beds,  and  rendering  them  per- 
meable to  water,  therebjr  facilitating  the  escape  o^  the 
gases  of  decomposing  coaL , 

In  conclusion,  I  may  observe  that  I  was  much 
struck  with  the  general  similarity  of  this  more 
modem  or  Oolitic  coal-field,  and  those  of  ancient 
or  Paleozoic  date  in  England  and  in  Europe  generally. 
I  was  especially  reminded  of  the^  carboniferous  rocks 
near  St.  Etienne,  in  France,  v^ich  I  visited  in  1843. 
These  also  rest  on  granite,  s^  consist  of  coarse  grits 
and  sandstone  derived  froih  the  detritus  of  granite. 
In  both  coal-fields,  the  French  and  the  Vii^nian, 
upright  calamites  abound ;  fossil  plants  are  met  with 
in  both,  almost  to  the  ekclusibn  of  other  organic  re- 


'cv'm- 


(tiiireen  two 


Chap.  XV.]        NE6B0ES  IN  THE  MINES.  287 

mains,  sheUs  especially  being  absent.  The  character 
of  the  coal  is  similar,  but  in  the  richness  and  thickness 
of  the  seams  the  Virginian  formation  is  pre-e^nent. 
When  we  behold  phenomena  so  identical,  repeated  at 
times  so  remote  in  the  earth's  history,  and  at  periods 
when  such  very  distinct  forms  of  vegetation  flourished, 
w»  may  derive  from  the  fact  a  useful  caution,  in  re- 
gard to  certain  popular  generalisations  respecting  a 
peculiar  state  of  the  globe  during  the  remoter  of  the 
two  epochs  alluded  to.  Some  geologists,  for  example, 
have  supposed  an  atmosphere  densely  chai^edTith 
carbonic  acid  to  be  necessary  to  explain  the  origin 
of  coal —  an  atmosphere  so  unHke  the  present,  as  to 
be  unfit  for  the  existence  of  air-breathing,  vertebrate 
animals ;  but  this  theory  they  will  hardly  be  pre- 
pared^to  extend  to  so  moder^ian^  as  the  Oolitic  or 
Inassic*  —  ^- 

During  my  visit  to  one  of  the  coal-pits,  an  English 
overseer,  who  was  superintending  the  works,  told  me 
I  that  wjthm  his  memory  there  had  been  a  great  im- 
provement in  the  treatment  of  the  negroes.  Some 
years  ago  a  planter  came  ^o  him  with  a  refractory 
slave,  and  asked  him  to  keejihim  underground  for  a 
year  by  way  of  punishment,  saying,  that  no  pay 
would  be  required  for  his  hire.  The  overseer  re- 
torted that  he  would  be  no  man's  jailer.  The  British 
company  at  Blackhcath  having  resolved  not  to  em- 
ploy any  slaves,  and  Mr.  GifFord,  having  engaged  130 

T.I  ^7  n  P?""  TJ^''  '''*'-'^''^'  ^y  ^'>«  ''"^''«'-'  Quarterly 
Jotlrnal  Geological  Soc,  August  1847,  vol!  iii.  p.  261.,  and  nn^ 
acco.npnny,ng  memoir    descriptive    of  the  fossil  plants,    by 
Charles  J. J^.Buubury,  For.  ^ec.  G.  S. 


..  1' 


-'•  i-t-  :  :^7n' 


288 


NEGKOES   IN  THE,  MINES.  [Chj^.  XVj 


free  negroes,  found  he  could  preserve  good  discipline 
without  corporal  punishment ;  and  he  not  only  per- 
suaded several  newly  arrived  labourers  from  England 
to  work  with  the  blacks,  but  old  Virginians,  also,  of 
the  white  race,  engaged  themselves,  although  their 
countrymen  looked  down  upon  them  at  first  for  asso- 
ciating with  such  companions.  They  confessed,  that 
for  a  time  "  they  felt  very  awkward,"  but  it  was  not 
long  before  the  proprietors  of  other  mines  followed 
the  example  which  had  been  set  them. 


f 


M^'fTW^^^'^^^^^'  *''*^^  ^|vra^',F  •"''^^f^!^  ■^    ""^""^  ^?^ 


[Chxp.  XV^ 

I  discipline 
t  only  per- 
n  England 
IS,  also,  of 
)ugh  their 
)t  for  asso- 
essed,  that 
it  was  not 
!8  followed 


Chap.  XVL] 


NORTH   CAROLINA. 


289 


CHAP.  XVI.         ,        . 

feeling.  ~  Passage  from  Mulattos  to  WhUes  —In,^^^T 
tmporHne  free  Bbirh,        n  •      .       • ,  ,  ^avydgainst 

cietu  i7rhnlA  'Z.    "^*'  »^th  Massachusetts. -So. 

c^ty  tn  Charleston.  -  Governesses.-  War-Panic  -  aZ 

AX:'aJ:'XT''' '''-'''''-  pre^s^-^j::] 

^ottratwn  of  the  Americans.  -  Dr.  Bachman's  Zoohev  - 

>n  the  p„„e,pal  route  from  the  Northern  to  the 
Southern  States  is  easily  understood  by  a  geolo^  t 

f  ml  "  :    '"'"'•'"'  "■""P™'  *°  -nVhundred: 
of  nules  on  the  tertiary  strata,  near  their  junction 

verse  direction  from  the  sea  coast  to  the  AUeghanies 
and  the  traveller  will  meet  with  the  greatest  varie^i  ( 
the  scenery.-  In  passing  over  the  tertiary  sjnds  and 
clays,  we  see  Pine  Barrens  where  the  soil  is*.*dy,  Zi 

-rZa":  ^l^- VT  the  argiUaceoufUds 
1.0  ine  surtace.     The  entire  absence  of  all  boul- 

wW        TV""'^  "^  "'^  '^''''^^^'  ^J"^««t  every.  , 
where  in  the  New  England  States  an^  New  York, 

*  See  my  "Travels  in  North  America,"  vol  i  p  93  :  «„h 
the  coloured  geological  map,  vol.  ii.  ^'     -'-  *"** 

^^J^DI^I, 


Q- 


ii^..JSi 


^^^^^^IBBiMMMiiiiiMBiMM 


'^: 


'        '^^^^ 


290 


WILMINGTON. 


[Chap.  XVI. 


I 


■i 


I 


is  a  marked  geological  peculiarity  of  these  southern 
lowlands.  Such  erratic  blocks  and  boulders  are  by 
no  means  confined  in  the  north  to  the  granitic  or 
secondary  formations ;  for  some  of  the  largest  of  them, 
huge  fragmfents  of  granite,  for  example,  twenty  feet  in 
diametei",  rest  ^n  the  newer  tertiary  deposits  of  the 
island  of  Martha's  Vineyard,  off  the  coast  of  Massa- 
chusetts. 

After  leaving  Richmond,  I  remarked  that  the 
railway  from  Weldon  to  Wilmington,  through  North 
Carolina,  had  not  improved  in  the  last  three  years, 
jior  the  stations  or  inns  where  we  stopped.  I  was 
told  in  explanation  that  this  line  would  soon  be 
superseded,  or  nearly  so,  by  a  more  inland  road  now 
making  thrpugh  Raleigh.  We  reached  Wilmington 
without  much  delay,  in  spite  of  the  ice  on  the  rails, 
and  the  running  of.  our  locomotive  engine  against  a 
oow.  On  approaching  that  town  we  were  glad  to 
sec  that  the  ground  was  not  covered  with  snow  as 
every  where  to  the  northward,  and  our  eyes  were 
refreshed  by  the  sight  of  verdure,  caused  by  the 
pines,  and  by  two  kinds  of  evergreen  oaks,  besides 
magnolias,  and  an  undergrowth  of  holly  and  kalmia. 
In  the  streets  and  suburbs  of  Wilmington,  the  Pride- 
of-Jndia  tree  (iUfe/ja  azedaracK)  is  very  conspicuous, 
some  of  them  twenty-five  years  old,  having  survived 
many  a  severe  frost,  especially  that  of  th^  autumn 
of  the  present  year,  the  seve:Fe8t  since  1835.  <■  Inhere 
are  also  some  sple^idid  live  oaks  here  (  Quercus  virens)^ 
a  tree  of  very  slow  growth,  which  furnishes  the 
finest  timber  for  ship-building.  ^ 

We  reached  Wilmington  after  the  steam-boat  for 


w 


Ch4p.  XVI.] 


v^ 


EfiCENT  FIBE. 


; 


291 


Charleston  had  deW,  and  I  ^as  not  sorry  to 
iiave  a  day  to  collect  >ertiaryr  fossils  in,  the  cliffs 
n^ar  the  town.     The  streets,  which  had^t  been  Ld 

rebuilt;  but  there  has  been  another  fire  this'year 
impufed  very  generaUy  to  incendiaries;   because  il 
bro^  out  ,n  many  places  at  once.     There  had  been 
a  deficiency  of  firemen,  owing  to  the  State  ha^na 
discont«ued   the  immunity  from  iniliti^  duty,  fc 
merly  conceded jojhose  who  served  the  fire-engines. 
Ihe  city   however,  has  now  undertaken  to  find  sub- 
stitute's for  young  men  who  will  join  the  fire  com- 
panies     A  lady  told  me  that,  when  the  conflagration 
buret  forth  very  suddenly,  she  was  with  a  merchant 
whose  house  was  not  insured,  and,  finding  him  panic- 
struck    an^^incapable  of  acting  for  himself,  she  ha'd 
selected  hi^Wgers  and  other  valuables,   and   was 
.    carrying  them  away  to  her  own  house ;  but  on  the 
way  the  civic  guard  stopped  her  in  the  dark,  and, 
suspecting  her  to  be  a  person  of  colour,  reqiHred  her 
to  show  her  pass.     »he  metationed  this  incidentally 
as  a  sepous  cause  of  delay  when  ^time  was  precious ; 
but  It -brought  home  forcibly  to  our  minds  the  (Extra- 
ordinary precaution^  which  one,  h^f  the  population 
he^e  think.  It  necessary  to   taice  against  the  oth^r 

A  large  export  of  turpentine  is  the  chief  business 
ot  tins  port,  and  gashes  are  seen  cut  in  the  bark  of    ' 
the   pines  m  the  neighbouring  forest,  from  which 
resm  exudes.     The  half-decayed  wood  of  these  .resi- 
nous  pines  forms  what  is  called   light-wood,  burn-     ■ 
mg.with  a  most  brilliant  flame,  and  often  used  for 


>< 


^^ 


J 


\ 


9 


I 


r 


f 


'ft 


292        SMITHFIELD,   NORTH  CAROLINA.  >tG^.  XVL 

candles,  as  welJ  as  for  reviving  the  fire.  A  North 
Carolinian  is  buid  to  migrate  most  unwillingly  to 
any  new  region  where  this  prime  luxury  of  life  is 
wanting. 

,W^en  we  sailed  for  Charleston,  the  steamer  first 
proceeded  thirty  miles  to  the  mouth  of  the  Cape  Fear 
river,  and  then  anchored  there  fbr  several  hours  %t-a.^ 
village  called  Smithfield,  in  North  Carolina.  HeF( 
I  strolled  along  the  shore,  and  4n  a  few  larnutes 
found  myself  in  a  wild  region^  out  of  sight  of  all 
human  habituations,  and  every  sign  of  the  work  of 
man's  hands.  The  soil,  composed  of  white  quartzose 
sand,  was  hopelessly  barren.  Coming  to  a  marsh,  I 
put  up  many  peewite,  which  flew  round  me,  uttering 
a  cry  resembling  tkat  of  our  European  speeies.  The 
evergreen,  oaks  ifSWrnid  the  marsh  were  hung  with 
tSpanish  moss,  or  Tillandsia,  the  pods  of  which  are 
now  full  of  downy  seeds.  This  plant  is  not  a  para- 
site like  the  misletoe,  of  which  a  species  is  also  com- 
mon on  the  trees  here,  but  simply  supports  itself  on 
trees,  without  sending  any  roots  into  them,  or  dravir-* 
ing  nourishment  from  their  juices.  Itis  what  the 
botanists  call  an  epiphyte,  and  is  precisely  the  sairie 
species  (  Tillandsia  usneoides),  ^v^hicbi^lj^o  common 
in  Brazil ;  so  tli^ '  as  we  joumey^H|mb<ds  this 
flowering  epiphyte,  together  witfap|H|p^Htetto,  or 
fan  palm,  may  be  regarded  as.  marking  an  approach 
towards  a  more  tropical  vegetation.  When  dried, 
the  outer  soft  part  of  the  Tillandsia  decays,  and 
is  a  woody  fibre  in  the  middle,  much  resembling 
hair  in  appearance,  and  very  elastic.  It  is 
ed  in  tipifWnited  States,  and  exported  to  Liver- 


-  Chap.  XVI.] 


■ii 


CHARLESTON/ 


,if 


293 

pool,  for  stuffing  mattresses.     In  preparing  it  they 
first  bury  the  moss,  knd  then,  take  it  up  again  whea 
the  Anterior  coating  has  rotted  oflP.     The  birds  also 
•nly  the  woody  fibre  of  the  withered  or  dead 
'or  building  their  nests. 
On  the  morning  of  Christmas-day,  we  reached 
Charleston,  S.C,  and  found  the  interior  of  the  Epis- 
^copal  church  of  St  Philip  j^dorned  with  evergreens 
and  with  artificial  flowers,  in  injitation  of  ma^rnolias 
and  asters.     During  the  whole  service  the  l^ys  in 
the  streets, were  firiqg  pistols  and  letting  off  fire- 
works, which  reminded  me  of  the  liberal  expenditure 
of.gunpowder  indulged  iti  by  the  Eoman  Catholics  in 
Sicily,  when  celebrating  Christmas  in  the^churcW 
J*  once  heard  a  file  of  soldiers  at  Girgenti  fire  off  their 
muskets  inside  a  church.     Here  at  least  it  was  on  the 
'  outside;  but,  as  it  was  no  part  of  the  ceremony,  it  was 
a  greater  interrupti6n  to  the  service.     We  saw  some 
of  the  white  race  very  shabbily  dressed,  arid  several 
mulattos  in  the  church,  separated  from  the  whites,  in 
fashionable  attire,  which  doubtless  they  were  fully  en- 
titled to  wear,  being  much  richer.     Instead  of  grow- 
ing reconciled  to  the  strong  line  of  demarcation  drawn 
^tween  the  two  races,  it  appears  to  me  more  and 
more  unnatural;  for  I  sometimes  discover  that  my 
American  companions  cannot  teU  me,  without  inquiry, 
to  which  race  certain  coloured  individuals  belong ;  and 
some  English  men  and  wtJmen,,  of  dark  complexion, 
might  occasionally  be  made  to  feel  awkward,  if  f hey 
were  traveUing  with  us  here.     On  one  occasion  the 
answer  to  my  query  was,  *'  If  {  could  get  sight  of 
hi8  thumb  nail  I  could  tell  you."    It  ap^^  that 


y"=-< 


-*1 


"=0"^ 


■^H 


i.      .^(*v' 


.-54/ 


■-5»i15?3ii^J'i3» 


,•*  /<■' 


294 


ANTI-NBGRO  FEELING.  [Chap.  XVI. 


the  white  crescent,  at  the  base  of  the  nail,  is  wholly 
wanting  in  the  full  blacks,  and  is  that  peculiarity 
which  they  acquire  the  last  as  they  approximate  by 
intermixture,  in  the  course  of  generations,  towards 
the  whites. 

I  have  just  seen  the  follbwing  advertisement  in  a 
newspaper :  —  "Runaway.  —Reward.  A  liberal  re- 
ward will  be  given  for  the  arrest  of  a  boy  named 
Dick.  He  is  a  bright  mulatto  — so  bright,  that  he 
can  readily,  as  he  has  done  before,  p^'s  himself  for 
a  white.  He  is  about  thirty  years  of  age,"  &c. 
Another  advertisement  of  a  runaway  negro  states, 
"his  colour  is  moderated  by  in-door  work." 

So  long  as  the  present  system  contiQues,  the  idea  of 
future  amalgamation  must  be  r^ugnant  to  the  domi- 
nant race.  They  would  shrink  from  it  just  as  a  Euro- 
pean noble  would  do,  if  he  were  told  that  his  grandchild 
or  great  grandchild  wptfid  intermarry  with  the  direct 
descendant  of  one  of  his  menial  servants.  That  the 
alleged  personal  diilike  of  the  two  races  towards  each 
other,  so  much  insiMed  upon  by.  many  writers,  must 
arise  chiefly  from  prijudice,  seems  proved,  not  only  by 
the  mixture  of  the  races,  but  by  the  manner  in  which 
we  see  the  Southern  women,  when  they  are  ill,  have 
three*or  fpur  female  slaves  to  sleep  on  the  floor  of 
their  sick  room,  and  often  consign  their  babes  to 
black  nurses  to  be  suckled. 

That  the  attainder  of  blood  should  outlast  all  trace 
of  African  features,  betrays  a  feeling  allied  to  the 
most  extravagant  aristocratio  pride  of  the  feudal 
ages,  and  stands  out  in  singular  relief  and  contrast 
Sere  in  the  South,  where  the  whites,  high  and  low. 


!,    .,    * 


Chap.  XVI.]     DISPUTE  WITH  MASSACHUSETTS.       295 

ignorant  and  educated,  are  striving  among  them- 
»elves  to  maintain  a  standard  of  social  equaUty,  in 
defiance  of  aU  the  natural  distinctions  which  differ- 
ence of  fortune,  occupation,  and  degrees  of  refinement 
give  rise  to. 

A  few  years  ago  a  ship  from  Massachusetts  touched 
at  Charleston,  having  some  free  blacks  on  board,  the 
steward  and  cook  being  of  the  number.     On  their 
landing,  they  were  immediately  put  into  jail  by  vir- 
tue of  a  kw  of  South  Carolina,  not  of  very  old  stand- 
ing.    The  government  of  Massachusetts,  in  a  state 
of  great  indignation,  sent  a  lawyer  to  investigate  the 
case  and  remonstrate.     This  agent  took  up  his  abode 
at  the  Charleston  Hotel,  where  we  are  now  comfort- 
ably wfteblished.    ^.few  days  after  his  arrival,  the 
hotel  was  surrounded,  to  the  terror  of  aU  the  inmates, 
by  a  mob  of  "gentlemen,"  who  were   resolved  to 
seize  the  New  England  envoy.     There  is  no  saying 
to  what  extremities  they  would  have  proceeded,  had 
not  the  lawyer's  daughter,  a  spirited  giri,  refused  to 
leave  the  hotel      The  excitement  lasted  five  days, 
and  almost  every  northern  man  in  Charleston  was 
made  to  feel  himself  in  personal  danger.    At  length, 
by  the  courage  and  energy  of  some  of  the  leading 

tttizens,  Mr.  H was  enabled  \o  escape,  and  then 

the  most  marked  attentions  were  paid,  and  civilities 
oflfered  to  the  young  lady,  hi«  daughter,  by  the  fami- 
lies of  the  very  men  who  had  thought  it  right,  "on 
principle,"  to  get  up  this  riot.  The  same  law  has 
given  nse  to  some  very  awkward  disputes  with  the 
captains  of  English  vessels,  whose  coloured  sailorii 
have,  in  like  manner,  beea  imprieonqd.     To  obtain 

ITT"  


\ 


■■■ 


np^fr-.^tv^^i^^p^^'irTgprtVTBS  jrWV7V^'J^^'=^  T  " 


296 


SOCIETT   IN  CHARLESTON.      [Chap.  XVI. 


redress  for  the  injury,  in  such  cases,  is  impossible. 
The  Federal  Government  is  too  weak  to  enforce  its 
authority,  and  the  sovereign  State  is  sheltered  under 
the  aegis  orihe  gi*and  confederacy. 

By  virtue  of  a, similar  law,  also,  in  force  in  Ala- 
bama, the  crews  of  several  vessels,  consisting  of  free 
blacks,  have  been  committed  to  jail  at  Mobile,  and 
the  captains  obliged  to  pay  the  costs,  and  give  bond 
to  carry  them  away. 

I  asked  a  New  England  merchant,  who  is  here,  w 
tlie  city  of  Charleston  did  not  increase,  having  «tifilt 
a  noble  harbour.  He  said,  "  There  have  been  sevend 
great  .fires,  and  the  rich  are  absentees  for  half  the 
year,  flying  from  malaria.  Besides,  you  will  find 
that  large  cities  do  not  grow  in  Sfave  States  as  in 
the  North.  Few,  if  any,  of  the  ships  now  in  this 
harbour  bfelong  to  merchants  of  Charleston." 

We  were  as  much  pleased  with  what  we  saw  of  the 
society  of  Charleston,  during  this  short  visit,  as  for- 
merly, when  we  were  here  in  1 842.  I  have  heard  its 
exclusiveness  much  commented  on ;  for  there  are  many 
families  here,  whose  ancestors  started  from  genteel 
English  stocks  in  Virginia  two  hundred  years  ago, 
and  they  and  some  of  tlie  eminent  lawyers  and  others, 
who,  by  Uieir,  education  and  talents,  have  qualified 
thomselvoB  to  be  received  into  the  same  circle,  do  not 
choose  to  associate  on  intimate  terms  with  every  one 
who  may  happen  to  come  and  settle  in  the  place.  There 
is  neatly  as  wide  a  range  in  the  degrees  of  refinement 
of  manners  in  American  as  in  European  society,  and, 
to  countorbalanco  some  unfavourable  circumstances, 
tiic  social  system  has  also  somcK'advaiHAffcs.    There 


I 


'  mfifiiii^s,^i^^i£iu,^^a^£'*^^^.i^^ 


4 


Chap.  XVI. 


Chap.  XVI.] 


r 

GOVERNESSES. 


297 


is  too  great  a  predominance  of  the  mercantile  class, 
and  the  democracy  often  selects  rude  and  unpolished 
favourites  to  fill  stations  of  power;  but  such  men 
are  scarcely  ever  without  some  talent.  On  the 
other  hand,  mere  wealth  i&  less  worshipped  than 
in  England,  and  there  is  no  rank  and^title  to  force 
men  of  slender  abilities,  and  without  even  agreeable 
manners,  into  good  company,  or  posts  of  political 
importance.  '.► 

The  treatment,  in  the  Southern  States,  of  gover- 
nesses, who  usually  pome  from  the  North  or  from 
England,  is  very  kind  and  considerate.  They  are 
placed  on  a  much  greater  footing  of  equality  with 
'the  family  in  which  th^y  live,  than  in  England. 
Occasionally  we  find  that  the  mother  of  the  children 
has  staid  at  home,  in  order  that  the  teacher  may  take 
her  turn,  and  go  out  to  a  party.  This  system  implies 
a  great  sacrifice  of  domestic  privacy ;  but  when  the 
monotony  of  the  daily  routine  of  lessons  is  thus  relieved 
to  the  instructress,  the  pupil  must  also  be  a  gainer. 
Their  salaries  are  from  50  to  100  guineas,  which  is 
more  than  they  receive  in  the  Northern  States. 

The  negroes  here  have  certainly  not  the  manners 
of  an  oppressed  race.  One  evening,  when  w«  had 
gone  out  to  dine  in  the  suburbs,  in  a  close  carriage, 
the  same  coachman  returned  for  us  at  night  with  an 
open  vehicle.  It  was  very  cold,  the  frost  having 
been  more  intense  this  year  than  any  winter  since 
1835,  and  I  remonstrated  strongly  ;  but  the  black 
driver,  as  he  shut  the  door,  said,  with  a  good- 
humoured  smile,  "  that  all  the  other  carriages  of  his 

o  5 


s\ 


4 


298 


WAR-PANIC. 


[Chap.  XVI. 


master  were  engaged ; "  and  added,  "  Never  mind,  it 
will  soon  be  over  1 " 

One  of  the  judges  of  the  Admiralty  Court  telk  me 
that,  on  Christmas  eve,  the  day  we  came  here,  at 
nine  o'clock  at  night,  when  he  was  just  going  to  bed, 
an  EngUsh  resident  came  to  him,  whose  mind  was  so 
full  of  the  prevailing  war-panic,  that  nothing"  would 
satisfy  him  but  the  obtaining  immediate  letters  of 
naturalisation.  He  seemed  to  think  that  hostilities 
with  England  might  break  out  in  the  course  of  the 
night,  and  that,  in  consequence,  all  his  property  would 
be  confiscated.  He  was  accordingly  enrolled  as  a 
citizen ;  "  although,"  said  the  judge,  "  we  shall  not 
gain  much  by  his  courage,  should  we  have  to  defend 
Charleston  against  a  British  fleet." 

Some  months  ago  a  British  post-office  steam-ship 
sailed  into  the  harbour  here,  and  took  soundings  in 
various  places,  and  this  incident  has  given  offence  to 
many,  although  in  reality  the  survey  was  made  under 
the  expectation  that  the  proposed  scheme  for  ex- 
tending the  line  of  British  West  India  mail-steamers 
along  this  coast  would  soon  take  effect. 

I  asked  a  South  Carolinian,  a  friend  of  peace,  and 
one  who  thinks  that  a  war  would  ruin  the  maritime 
States,  why  so  many  of  the  people  betrayed  so  much 
sympathy  with  the  hostile  demonstration  got  up  by 
the  press  against  England.  "Wo  have  a  set  of 
demagogues,"  he  replied,  "  in  this  country,  who  trade 
on  the  article  called  *  hatred  to  England,'  as  so  much 
political*  capital,  just  as  a  Southern  merchant  trades 
in  cotton,  or  a  Canadian  one  in  lumber.  They  court 
the   multitude    by    blustering   and    by  threatening 


[ 


Chap.  XVI.]        ANTI-ENGLISH   FEELING. 


299 


England.     There  is  a  natural  leading  in  the  South 
towards  Great  Britain,  as  fumiehitag  a  market  for 
their  cotton,  and  they  are  averse  to  the  high  tarift' 
which  the  Northerners  have  inflicted  on  them.     But 
these  feelings  are  neutraUsed  by  a  dislike  of  the 
abolitionist  party  in  England,  and  by  a  strong  spirit 
of  antagonism  to  Great  Britain,  which  the  Irish  bring 
over  here.     All  these  sources  of  estrangement,  how- 
ever, are  as  nothing  in  comparison  with  the  baneful 
effect  of  your  press,  and  its  persevering  misrepre- 
sentation of  every  thing  American.     Almost  ev6ry 
^    white  man  here  is  a  rea^r  and  a  politician,  and  all 
/'     that  is  said   against  us  in  England  is  immediately 
cited  in  our  newspapers,  because  it  serves  to  aiugment 
that  political  capital  of  which  I  have  spoken."     I  re- 
marked that  the  nation  and  its  government  are  not 
answerable  for  all  the  thoughtless  effusions  of  anony- 
mous  newspaper  writers,  and  that  the  tone  of  the 
English  journals,  since  the  agitation  of  the  Oregoji 
affair,  had  been  temperate,  guarded,  and  even  cour- 
teous.  "It  is  very  true,"  he  said;  — "the  Times,  in 
particular,  formerly  one  of  the   most   insolent  ami 
,   malignant     But  the  change   has   beeS  too  sudden, 
and  the  motive  too  transparent.     The  English  know 
that  the  world  can  never  suspect  them  of  want  of 
courage,  if  they  show  a  disinclination  to  go  to  war. 
Not   wishing    to   waste    their    blood    and  treasure 
for  80   useless   a  possession    as   Oregon,    they   are 
behaving  like  a  man  who,  having  insulted  another, 
has  no  mind,  when  called  out,  to  fight  a  duel  about 
nothing.      lie-  therefore   makes   an   apology.     But 
such  cij'ility  will   not  last,  and  if  the  anonymous 
^  06 


■t.,1 


MmMuM^MmmMiMUmuimimii 


>>nfN>^iaip  "^V^ 


x*?^3^-«^^^pG?F^  -• 


fi^PP?^ 


300 


ANTI-ENGLISH   PEELING.        [Chap.  XVI. 


abuse  habitually  indulged  in  w^ere  not  popular,  it 
would  long  ago  have  ceased." 

A  short  time  after  this  conversation,  I  fell  in  with 
a  young  officer  of  the  American  navy,  who /was  wish- 
ing for  war,  partly  for  the  sak'e  of  active  service,  but 
chiefly  from  intense  nationality.  "  We  may  get  the 
worst  of  it,"  he  said,  "  for  a  year  or  two;  Eut  England 
will  not  come  out  of  the  struggle  "without  being 
forced  to  acknowledge  that  she  has  had  to  deal  with 
a  first-rate  instead  of  a  second-rate  power."  Soon 
after  this  I  met  an  English  sportsman,  who  had  been 
travelling  for  his  amusement  in  the  Western  States, 
where  he  had  been  well  received,  and  liked  the  people 
'much;  but  many  of  utem  had  t(dd  him,  "We  must 
have  a  brush  with  the  English  before  they  will  re- 
spect us."  "^ 

This  sentiment  ip  strong  with  a  certain  party 
throughout  the  Union,  and  would  have  no  existence 
if  they  did  not  respect  the  English,  and  wish  in  their 
liearts  to  l^ve  their  good  opinion.  It  may  be. well 
for  ah  old  nation  to  propound  the  doctrine  that  every 
people  ought  to  rest  on  their  own  dignity,  and  be 
satisfied  with  their  place  in  the  world,  without  trou- 
bling themselves  about  what  others  think  of  them,  or 
running  the  risk  of  having  applied  to  flicm  the  cha- 
racter which  Goldsmith  ascribed  to  the  French  of  his 
times :  — ^ 

''  Wlierp  the  weak  soul  within  itself  unblest, 
Leans  for  support  up«i  another's  breast.'* 

But  tliey  whose  title  to  consideration  is  new,  how- 
ever isal,  will  rarely  occupy  their  true  place  unless 


y 


Chap.  XVI.]        ANTI-ENGL"ISH   FEELING. 


301 


they  take  it;  whereas  an  older  nation  has  seldom  to 
assert  its  claims,  and  they  are  often  freely  conceded 
long  after  it  has  declined  ft-om  its  former  power.     To 
an   ambitious  nation,   feeding  its  imagination  with 
anticipations   of  coming  greatness,  it  is  peculiarly 
mortifying  to  find   that   what  they  have   actually 
achieved  is  barely  acknowledged.     They  grow  boast- 
ful and  impatient  to  display  their  strength.     When 
they  are  in  this   mood,  no   foreign   country  should 
succumb  to  them  ;  but,  on  the  othei*  hand,  it  is  equally 
impolitic  and  culpable  to  irritate  them  by  disparage- 
ment, or  by  not  yielding  to  them  their  proper  place 
among  the  nations.     «  You  class  us,"  said  one  of  their 
politicians  to  me  in  Washington,  "with  the  South 
American   republics;    your   ambasadors  to  us  come 
from   Brazil  and  Mexico  to  Washington,  and  con- 
sider it  a  stepf  in  their  advancement  to   go  from 
the   United    States  to  Spain,  or   some  second-rate 
German  court,  having  a  smaller  population  than  two 
of  our  large  States.     Yet,  in  reality,  where  is  there  a 
people  in  the  world,  except  France,  with  which  it  so 
much  concerns  you  to  live  in  amity  as  the  United 
States,  and  with  what  other   nation  have  you  and 
yo^ixjhief  colonies  so  much  commercial  intercourse?" 
On  listening  to  complaints  against  the   English 
press,  my  thoughts  often  recurred  to  Bonaparte's  pro- 
secution of  the  royalist  emigrant  Peltier,  after  the 
peace  of  Amiens,  February  1803,  and  the  appeal  to 
^  the  jury  of  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  as  counsel  for  the 
defendant,  on  the  want  of  dignity  on  the  part  of  the 
First  Consul,  then  in  reaKty  the  most  powerful  so- 
vereign in  Europe,  in  persecuting  a  poor,  defenceless, 


^m 


— J'^'^^WT  Til" 


">!r«TPB.; 


302 


DE.  BACHMAN's   ZOOLOGT.      [Chap.  XVI. 


and  proscribed  exile,  for  abusive  editorial  articles. 
The  court  and  jury  were  probably  of  the  same  mind ; 
but  the  verdict  of  guilty  showed  that  they  deemed  it 
no  light  matter  that  the  peace  of  two  great  nations 
should  be  disturbed,  by  permitting  anonymous  libels, 
or  a  continued  outpouring  of  invective  and  vitupera- 
tion, calculated  to  provoke  the  ruler  of  a  friendly 
country.     In   America  the   sovereign   people   read 
every  thing  written  against  them,  as  did  Napoleon  to 
the  last,  and,  like  him,  with  unmitigated  resentment. 
Before  leaving  Charleston  I  called  on  Dr.  Bach- 
man,  whose  acquaintance  I  had  made  in  1842,  and 
was  glad  to  see  on  his  table  the  first  volumes  of  a 
joint  work   by  himself  and  Audubon,  on    the  land 
quadrupeds  of  North  America.     These  authors  will 
give  coloured  figures  and  descriptions  of  no  less  than 
200  Mammalia,  exclusive  of  Cetacea,  all  inhabiting 
this   continent  between   the   southern  limits  of  the 
Arctic  region  and  the  Tropic  of  Cancer ;    for  they 
now  include  Texas  in  the  United  States.     Not  more 
than  seventy-six  species  are  enumerated  by  preceding 
naturalists,  and  several  of  these  are  treated  by  Bach- 
man   and   Audubon   not  as  true   species   but  mere 
varieties.     Their  industry,  however,  in  augmenting 
the  list  by  new  discoveries,  is  not  always  welcomed 
by  the  subscribers,  one  of  whom,  has  just  written  to 
say,  "If  you  describe  so  many  squirrels,  I  cannot  go 
on  taking  in  your  book."     The  tribe  alluded  to  in 
this  threatening  epistle,  especially  the  striped  species, 
is  most  fully  represented  in  Nortli  America,  a  conti- 
^nt  so  remarkable  for  its  extent  of  woodland  and 


^O'l      ?   >.   t;^  n,^>'^.?i  - 


Chap.  XVI.]      diI.  BACHMAN'S  ZOOLOGY. 


303 


the  variety  of  its  forest  trees.     Yet,  after  travelling 
so  much  in  the  woods,  I  had  never  got  sight  of  more 
than  three  or  four  species,  owing,  I  am  informed,  to 
their  nocturnal  habits.     I  regretted  that  I  had  not 
yet  seen  the  flying  squirrel  in  motion,  and  was  sur- 
prised to  hear  that  Dr.  Bachman  had  observed  about 
a  hundred  of  them  e^ery  evening  for  several  weeks, 
near  Philadelphia,  on  two  tall  oaks,  in  the  autumn, 
when  acorns  and  chestnuts  were  abundant,  and  when 
they  had  spare  time  for  play.     They  were  amusing 
themselves  by  passing   from  one  tree    to    another, 
throwing  themselves  off  from  the  top  of  one  of  the 
•oaks,  and  descending  at  a  considerable  angle  to  near 
the  base  of  the  other ;  then  inclining  the  head  up- 
wards just  before  reaching  the  ground,  so  as  to  turn 
and  alight  on  the  trunk,  which  they  immediately 
climbed  up  to  repeat  the  same  mana3uvre.     In  this 
way  there  was  an  almost  continuous  flight  of  them 
crossing   each   other  in   the  -air  between  the  two 
trees. 

I  had  heard  much  of  the  swamp-rabbit,  which  they 
hunt  near  the  coast  in  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  • 
and  was  glad  to  see  a  stuffed  specimen.     It  is  an 
aquatic  hare  {Lepus  palustris),  diving  most  nimbly, 
and  outswimming  a  Newfoundland,  dog. 

Dr.  Bachman  pointed  out  to  me  ten  genera  of 
birds,  and  ten  of  quadrupeds,  all  peculiar  to  North 
America,  but  each  represented  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains  by  distinct  species.  The 
theory  of  specific  centres,  or  the  doctrine  that  the 
original  stock  of  each  species  of  bird  and  quadruped 


*  ^5i*>tS^^t?-^fl 


304 


RATTLE-SNAKES. 


[Chap.  XVI. 


originated  in  one  spot'  only,  may  explain,  in  a  satis- 
factory manner,  one  part  of  this  phenomenon;  for  we 
may  assume  that  a  lofty  chain  of  mountains  opposed 
a  powerful  barrier  jto  migration,  and  that  the^  moun- 
tains were  more  ancient  than  thfe  introduction  of 
these  particular  quadrupeds  and  birds^dnto  the  planet. 
But  the  limitation  of  peculiar  generic  types  to  c>jr- 
tain  geographical  areas,  now  observed  in  so  many 
parts  of  the  globe,  points  to  some  other  aM  higher 
law  governing  the  creation  of  species  itsej^^which, 
in  the  present  state  of  science,  is  inscrutably  to  us, 
and  may  perhaps  remain  a  mystery  for  ever.'  •  The 
adaptation  of  peculiar  forms,  instincts,  qualities,  and 
organizations  to  the  present  geography  and  climate 
of  a  region,  may  be  a  part  only  of  the  conditions 
which  govern  in  every  case  the  *dations  of  the  ani- 
mate beings  to  their  habitations     Xhe  past  condi- 
tion and  changes  of  the  globe  and  its  inhabitants, 
throughout  the   whole    period   when   the   different 
beings  were  entering,  each  in  succession,  upon  the 
scene,  and  all  the  future  conditions  and  changes  to  the 
end  of  vast  periods,  during  which  they  may  be  destined 
to  exist,  ought  to  be  known,  before  we  can  expect  to 
comprehend  why  certain  types  were  originally  selected 
for  certain  areas,  whether  of  land  or  water. ' 

In  the  museum  of  the  Medical  College,  Professor 
Shepard  showed  me  a  fine  specimen  of  the  large 
rattle-snatke  of  South  Carolina  {Crotalus  adaman- 
tinus),  preserved  in  spirits.  It  was  said  to  have 
been  nine  years  old,  having  six  rattles,  the  tail 
acquiring  one  annually  after  the^ third  year.     When 


Chap.  XVL] 


EATTLE-8NAKES. 


305 


brought  into  the  laboratory  in  winter  in  (a  torpid 
state,  an  electric  shock  had  been  communioa|ted  to  it,    . 
which  threw  it  into  a  state  of  extreme,  excitemerifl 
Two  tortoises,  nearly  torpid,  were  also  put  by  the 
Professor  into  a  glass  bell  filled  with  laughing  gas, 
and  they  immediately  began  to  leap  about  with  great  ' 
agility,  and  continued  in  this  state  of  muscular  excite- 
ment for  more  than  an  hour.  .     • 
In  both  my  tours  in  America,  I  heard  stories  not; ' 
only  of  dogs,  which  had  died  suddenly  from  the  bite 
of  rattle-snakes,  but  men  also;  and  the  venom  is 
said  to  be  more  virulent  in  the  south.     I  rejoiced,' 
therefore,  that  I  had  chosen  the  coldest  season  for  my 
visits  to  these  latitudes;  but  it  seemed  singular  that, 
in  my  wanderings  to  explore  the  rocks  in  various 
State!,  I  had  never  yet  got  sight  of  a  single  s^ake, 
or  heard  its  rattle.     That  they  make  a  much  greater 
figure  in  books  of  travels  than  in  real  life,  I  cannot 
but  suspect. 

Almost  all  the  best  houses  in  Charleston  are  built 
with  verandahs,  and  surrounded  with  gardens.  In 
some  of  the  streets  we  admired  the  beautiful  ever- 
greens, and  remarked  among  them  the  Prunus  vir- 
giniana,  with  black  cherries  hanging  to  it,  and  Mag- 
nolia grandifiora.  The  number  of  turkey  buzzards 
is  surprising.  I  have  seen 'nine  of  them  perched' 
side  by  side,  like  so  many  bronze  statues,  breaking 
the  long  line  of  a  roof  in  the  clear  blue  sky,  while  ■- 
others  were  soaring  in  the  air,  each  feather,  at  the 
extremity  of  their  extended  wings;  being  spread  out, 
so  as  to  be  seen  separate  from  the  rest.      A  New 


^^^^H^H 


H^^^^Hi^^^^^^^^ 


i 


r, 


306 


TURKEY  'BUZZARDS. 


[Char  XVI. 


England  friend,  whom  we  met  here,  seeing  my  interest 
in  these  birds,  told  m,e  they  are  the  sole  scavengers 
of  the  place,  and  4  fiiie  of  five  dollars  is  imposed  on 
•any  person  who  kills  one.  **  You  are  lucky  in  being 
here  in  a  cold  season ;  if  you  should  jCopie  bac&  in 
'summer,  you  would  ihink  thaf^hese  vultures  had  a 
right  to  the  whole  city, — it  stinks  so  intolerably." 


'^  ^ 


-^"^T..v^^™Be^^^  wp^ 


Chap.  XVII.]      CHARLESTON   TO   SAVANNAH. 


307 


CHAP.  xyii. . 

Charleston  to  Sdvanmh.  —  Beaufort  River,  or  Inland  Navigation 
in  South  Carolina.  —  Slave  Stealer.  —  Cockspur  Island.  — 
Rapid  Growth  of  Oysters.— Eagle  caught  by  an  Oyster.— Ex- 
cursion from  Savannah  to  Skiddaway  Island.  —  Megatherium 
and  Mylodon.  —  Cabbage  Palms^  or  Tree  Palmettos.  — De- 
ceptive Appearance  of  Submarine  Forest.  —  Alligators  swal- 
lowing Flints.  —  Their  Tenacity  of  Life  when  decapitated.  — 
Grove  of  Live  Oaks.  —  Slaves  taken  to  Free  States. 


Dec.  28.  1845.  — A  fine  steam-ship,  the  General 
Clinch,  conveyed  us  to  Savannah.  I  was  surprised, 
when  sailing  out  of  the  beautiful  harbour  of  Charles- 
ton, on  a  bright  scorching  day,  to  see  a  cloud  of 
smoke  hanging  over  the  town,  and  learnt  that  they 
burn  here  not  a  little  of  what  is  called  Liverpool 
coal.  Among  others  on  board  was  a  female  pas- 
senger from  one  of  the  Western  States,  who,  having 
heard  me  make  inquiries  for  my  wife,  went  up  ^o 
her  in  the  ladies'  cabin,  and  said,  "  Your  old  man  is 
mighty  eager  to  see  you;"  "old  man,"  as  we  af- 
terwards found,  being  synonymous  with  husband 
in  the  West.  We  were  to  go  by  the  inland  navi- 
gation, or  between  the  islands  and  the  coast.  After 
passing  Edisto  Point,  we  ran  aground  at  the  entrance 
of  St.  Helena's  Sound,  in  mid-passage, .  and  were 
detained  some  hours  till  the  tide  floated  us  off  to 


a 


^j^^^^^gg^g^^ 


'.«' 


"  f '  <«i=^;ib;5~ 


308 


BEAUFORT   RIVER. 


[CftAP.  XVU. 


kV 


u_ 


the  westward,  through  the  winding  mazes  of  a  most 
intricate  channel,  called  the  Beaufort  River.  We 
passed  btetween  low  sandy  islands,  and  an  equally 
low  mainland,  covered  with  evergreen  oaks,  and 
long-leaved  pines  and  palmettos,  six  or  seven  feet 
high.  Sometimes  we  sailed  by  a  low  bluff  or  cliff 
of  white  sand,  two  or  three  feet  in  height,  then 
by  a  cotton  plantation,  then  by  large  salt  marshes 
covered  with  reeds,  on  which  the  cattle  are  supported 
when  fodder  is  scarce  in  winter.  The  salt  water  in 
this  narraw  channel  was  as  calm  as  a  lake,  and  per- 
fectly clear.  Numerous  wild  ducks  were  diving  as 
our  steam-boat  approached,  and  beds  of  oysters  were 
uncovered  between  high  and  low  water  mark.  It 
was  a  hovel  and  curious  scene,  especially  when  we 
approached  Beaufort,  a  picturesque  town  composed  ' 
of  an  assemblage  of  villas,  the  summer  residences  of 
numerous  .planters,  who  retire  here  during  the  hot 
season,  when,  the  interior  of  South  Carolina  is  un- 
healthy for  the  whites.  Each  villa  is  shaded  by  a 
verandah,  surrounded  by  beautiful  live  oaks  and 
orange  trees  laden  with  fruit,  though  with  leaves 
slightly  tinged  by  the  late  severe  frost.  It  is  hoped 
that  these  orange  trees  will  not  suffer  as  they  did  in 
February  1835^  for  then  the  cold  attacked  them  much 
later  in  the  season,  and  after  the  sap  had  risen.  The 
Prfde-of-India  tree,  with  its  berries  now  ripe,  is  an 
exotic  much  in  favour  here.  A  crowd  of  negroes,  in 
their  gay  Sunday  clothes,  came  down  to  look  at  our 
steam-boat,  grinning  and  chattering,  and  looking, 
as  usual,  perfectly  free  from  care ;  but  so  ugly,  that, 
although  they  added  to  the  singularity  and  foreign 


'^§S^^^^^^^^^^ 


Chap.  XVIL] 


SLAVE  STEALEK. 


309 


aspect  of  the  scene,  they  detracted  gr<^tly  from  its 
charms. 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  dense  beds  of  oysters  be- 
tween high  and  low  water  mark,  hundreds  of  which 
adhere  to  the  timbers  of  the  pier  at  Beaufort,  as 
barnacles  do  in  our  English  ports,  I  might  have  sup- 
posed the  channel  to  be  really  what  it  is  called,  a 
river. 

An  old  Spanish  fort,  south  of  Beaufort,  reminded 
me  that  this  region  had  once  belonged  to  the  Spa- 
niards, who  built  St  Augustine,  still  farther  to  the 
-south,  the  oldest  city  in  the  United  States,  and  I 
began  to  muse  on  the  wonderful  history  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race  in  settling  these  southern  States. 
To  have  overcome  and  driven  out,  in  so  short  a  time, 
Indians,  Spaniards,  and  French,  ahd  yet,  after  alV  to 
be  doomed  to  share  the  territory  with  three  millions 
of  negroes  I 

Of  this  latter  race  we  had  not  a  few  passengers 
on  board.  Going  into  the  steerage  to  converse  with 
some  of  them,  my  curiosity  was  particularly  attracted 
to  a  group  of  three,  who  were  standing  by  them- 
selves. The  two  younger,  a  girl  and  a  lad,  were 
very  frank,  and  willing  to  talk  with  me ;  but  I  was 
immediately  joined  by  a  young  white  man,  not  ill- 
looking,  but  who  struck  me  as  having  a  very  deter- 
mined countenance  for  his  age.  «*  These  coloured 
people,"  he  said,  "  whom  you  have  been  speaking  to, 
belong  to  mo,  and  they  have  probably  told  you  that 
I  have  brought  them  by  railway  from  Augusta  to 
Charleston.  I  hope  to  dispose  of  them  at  Savannah ; 
but  if  not,  I  shall"  take  them  to  Texas,  where  I  may 


'i^sa^mm 


mm 


;i*^m.^,\ 


310 


SLAVE   STEALER. 


[Chap.  XVIL 


sell  them,  or  perhaps  keep  them  as  labourers,  and 
settle  there  myself."  He  then  told  me  he  had  fought 
in  the  wArs  for  the  independence  of  Texas,  which  I 
afterwards  found  was  quite  true,  and,  after  telling 
me  some  of  his  adventures,  he  said,  "  I  will  take 
450  dollars  for  the  girl,  and  600  for  the  boy ;  they 
are  both  of  pure  blood,  would  stand  a  hot  climate 
well ;  they  cannot  read,  but  can  count  up  to  a  thou- 
sand." By  all  these  qualities,  negative  and  positive, 
he  evidently  expected  to  enhance  in  my  eyes  the 
value  of  the  article  which  he  meant  me  to  buy ;  and 
no  sooner  did  he  suspect,  by  one  of  my  questions, 
that  I  was  a  foreigner  travelliiig  for  fnj  amusement, 
than  he  was  off  the  subject,  and  I  attempted  in  vain 
to  bring  him  back  to  it,  and  to  learn  why  the  power 
of  counting  was  so  useful,  while  that  of  reading  was 
undesirable.  About  three  weeks  after  this  incidei4l| 
when  we  were  at  Macon  in  Georgia,  there  was  a 
hue  and  cry  after  a  thief  who  had  stolen  five  negroes 
near  Augusta,  and  had  taken  them  to  Savannah  in 
the  General  Clinch,  where  he  had  sold  one  of  them, 
a  girl,  for  450  dollars.  From  Savannah  ho  had  been 
traced  with  the  remaining  four,  by  railway,  to  Macon, 
whence  it  was  supposed  he  had  gone  South.  The 
description  of  the  delinquent  left  me  in  no  doubt 
that  he  was  my  former  fellow-traveller,  and  I  now 
learnt  that  he  was  of  a  respectable  family  in  G(!orgiu, 
{lie  spoilt  child  of  a  widowed  mother,  self-willed  and .. 
unmanageable  from  his  boyhood,  and  who  had  gone 
off  against  the'  wishes  of  Ms  relations  to  fight  in 
Texas.  I  recollected  that  when  wo  were  at  Beaufort, 
none  of  his  negroes  had  gone  ashore,  and  that  he 


C^AP.  XVII.] 


SLAVE   STEALER. 


311 


had  kept  his  eye  always  anxiously  on  them  during 
our  stay  there.     I  also  remarked,  that  the  planters 
on  board,  who,  for  the  most  part,  were  gentlemanlike 
in  their  manners,  shunned  all  intercourse  with  this 
dealer,  as  if  they  ^garded  his  business  as  scarcely 
respectable.     A   vast  majority  of  the  slave-owners 
acquiesced  originally  in  the  propriety  of  abolishing 
the  external  slave-trade;  but  the  internal  one  cannot, 
they  say,  be  done  away  with,  without  interfering 
with  the  free  circulation  of  labour  from  an  over- 
peopled district  to  another  where  hands  are  scarce. 
To  check  this,  they  maintain,  would  injure  the  ne- 
groes as  much  as  their  masters.  When  they  are  forced 
to  part  with  slaves,  they  usually  sell  one  to  another, 
and  are  unwilling  to  dispose  of  them  to  a  stranger.  It 
is  reckoned,  indeed,  ^uite  a  disgrace  to  a  negro  to  be 
so  discarded.     When  the  former  master  bids  for  one 
of  his  "  own  people,"  at  a  sale  of  property  forced  on 
by  debt,  the  public  are  unwilling  to  bid  against  him. 
It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  a  dealer  must  traffic  in  the 
lowest  and  most  good-for-nothing  class  of  labourers, 
many  of  whom,  in  Europe,  would  be  in  the  hands  of 
IK)licemen,  or  in  convict  ships  on  their  way  to  a 
[)enjil  settlement.     I  heard  of  one  of  these  dealers, 
who,  having  made  a  large  fortune,  lived  sumptuously 
in  one  of  the  towns  on  the  Mississippi  after  retiring 
from  business ;  but,  in  spite  of  some  influential  con- 
nections, he  was  not  able  to  make  his  way  into  the 
best  society  of  the  place. 

At  the  mouth  of  the  Savannah  River  we  passed 
Cockspur  Island,  where  there  is  a  fort.  The  sea  is 
said  to  iiave  encroached  many  hundred  yards  on  this 


i||!|i;p^a!«ii«iMlliiPi 


312      EAGLe   caught   by  an  oyster.    [Chap.  XVfL 

island  since  1740,  as  has  happened  at  other  points 
on  this  low  coast ;  but  there  has  been  also  a  gain  of 
land  in  many  places.     An  oflScer  stationed  at  the 
fort  told  me,  that  when  a  moat  was  dug  and  the  sea- 
water  admitted,  oysters  grew  there  so  fast,  that,  at 
the  end  of  two  years,  they  afforded  a  regular  supply 
of  that  luxury  to  the  garrison.    The  species  of  oyster 
which  is  so  abundant  here  (  Ostrea  virginica)  resembles 
our*European  Ostrea  edulis  in  shape,  when  it  Ijives 
isolated,  and  grows  freely  under  water;   but;  those 
individuals   which   live    gregariously,   or  on   banks 
between  high  and,  low  water,  lose  their  round  form, 
and  are  greatly  lengthened.     They  are  called  racoon 
oysters,  because  they  are  the  onl/  ones  which  the 
racoons  can  get  at  when  they  cortie  down  to  feed  at 
low  tide.     Capt.  Alexander,  of  the  U*  S.  artillery, 
told  me  that,  in  the  summer  of  1844,  he  saw  a  large 
bald-headed  eagle,  Aquila  leucocephala,  which  might 
measure  six  feet  from   tip   to  tip  of  its  extended 
wings,  caught  near  the  bar  of  the  Savannah  river 
by  one   of  these  racoon   oysters.     The   eagle   had 
|)erched  upon  the  shell-fish  to  prey  upon  it,  when 
the  mollusk  suddenly  closed  its  valves  and  shut  in 
the  bird's  claw,  and  would  have  detained  its  enwpy 
till  the  rising  tide  had  come  up  and  drowned  it, 
had  not  the  captain  in  his  boat  secured  it^with  a 
noose,  and  disengaged  it  from  the  oyster.    He  flapped 
bis  wings  violently  as  they  approached,  but  could 
not  escape. 

Dec.  29.  — Savannah  has  a  population  of  12,000 
souls,  but  seems  rather  stationary,  though  some  new 
buildings  are  ri«ng.     The  mildness,  of  its  climate 


Ij 

<->                                                  tu 

u 

• 

I   ' 

,« 

y    . 

^1 

if     "'> 

, 

i                                      * 

-,-    ^^,~  '    ^,^;^      yi-^1^V'  ^J    ■     ,1-.   . 


Cha^.  XVII.]      EXCUB8I0N   TO   SKIDDAWAY. 


313 

Air^'f^P"'*^^  '"   *^"   ^^«*""^«  *«  ^hich   the 
^^egUnyl^^^,^,  retire  from  the  sea  coist  in  thi« 
latitude,  and  par^Iv  to  the  proximity  of  the  Gulf- 
stream.     But  manV  of  the  Northern  invalid8,  who 
are  consumptive,  an\had  hoped  to  escape  a  winter 
by  taking   refuge  in  this   city,   are  complaining  of 
the  frost,  and  say  that  the  houses  are  inadequately 
protected  against  cold.      T^e  sun  is  very  powerful 
at  mid-day,  and  we  see  the  Camellia  Japonica  in  the 
^rdens  flowering  in  the  open  air;  but  the  leaves  of 
the  orange  trees  look  crisp  and  frost-bitten,  and  I  am 
told  that  the  thermometer  lately  fell  as  low  a^  17' 
i^ahr.,  so  that  even  the  salt  water  froze  over  in  some 
of  the  marshes.  .       . 

While  at  Savannah  I  made  a  delightful  excursion 

and  Mr.  Hodgson,   to    Skiddaway,  one  of  the  sea' 
islands,  which  may  be  sttid  to  form  part  of  a  great ' 
delta  oMhe  coast  of  Georgia,  between  the  mouths 
ot  the  SaH^annah  and  Ogeechee  rivers.     This  alluvial 
region  consiits  of  a  wi^e  extent  of  low  land  elevated 
a   few  feet  above   high  water,   and   intersected  bv 
numerous  creeks  and  swamps.     I  gave  some  account 
in  my  former  tour  of  my  visit  to  Heyner's  Bridire' 
where  the  bones  of  the  extinct  mastodon  and  mylodon 
were  found.     Skiddaway  is  five  pr  six  miles  Lttr 
from   Savannah  in   the   same   south-east   direction, 
and  IS  classical  ground  for  the  geologist,  for,  on  it* 
north-west  end,  wheto  there  is  a  low  cliff  from  two 
to  s.x  feet  m  height,  no  less  than  three  skeletons  of 


Toun: 


*  Tiavclii  in  North  AmcnVii.  vol,  i.  p.  ifl^, 


'  314       MEGATHERIUM  AND  MTLODON.      [Chap.  XVII. 

tlie  hi^e  Msgatherium  have  been  dug   up,   besides 
the  remains  of  the  Mylodony  Elephas  primigenius,' 
Masfodor^  giganteusy  and  A  species  of  the  ox  tribe. 
The  bones  occur  in  a  dark  peaty^soil  fxc  marsh  mud, 

-  above  which  is  a  stratum,  three  or  four  feet  thick,  of 
sand,  charged  with  oxide  of  iron,  and  below  them 
and  beneath  the  sea  level,  occurs  sand  containing  a 
great  number  of  marine  fossil  shells,  aU  belonging 
to  species  which  still  inhabit  the  neighbouring  coast, 
showing  how  modern  is  the  date,  geologically 
speaking,  of  the  extinc^  animals,  since  they  were 
evidently  posterior  to  the  existing  molluscoUs  fauna 
of  the  sea. 

The  scenery  of  the  low  flat  island  t)f  Skiddaway 
had  more  of  a  tropiical  aspect  than  any  which  I  had 
yet  seen  in^  ,the  United  States.  Several  distinct 
species  of  palmetto,  or  faij  palmj  were  common,  as  also 
the  tree,  or  cabbage  palm,  a  noble  species  which  I  had 

.  never «een  before.  (See  fig.  6.)  In  some  of  the  cotton- 
fielda  many  individuals  were  groyring  singly,  having 
been  planted  at  regular  intervals,  to  the  exclusion  of 
all  other  trees,  and  were  from  twenty-five  to  forty 
feet  in  height.  The  trunk  bulges  at  the  base,  above 
which  it  is  usually  aboiit  one  foot  in  diameter,  and  of 
the  same  size  throughout,  or  rather  increasing  up- 
wards. At  the  top  the  leaves  spread  out  oi)  all  sides, 
as  in  other  fan  palms.  Those  which  have  fallen  off 
do  not  leave  separate  scars  on  the  trunk,  but  rings 
are  formed  by  their  bases.  The  cabbage  of  the  young 
palm  is  used  as  a  vegetable,  but  when  this  part  is 
cut  off,  the  plant  is  killed.  I  saw  sections  of  the 
H'ood.  and  the  structure  of  it  rcsemblos  that  of  truo 


-"(Hr 


Chap.  XVII.]  CABBAGE  PALM.  315 

paJms.     it  is  said  by  Elliott   to  be   invaluable  for 
submarine  construction,  aa  it  is  never-attacked  by  the 

Fig.6. 


Cham«trop$  Palmetto, 
C^UxV  n.to,  or  urn  Pulmtto.  Skidd^y  lOand.  G.orgia. 

diil-worm,  or  Teredo  navalis.  This  tree  flourishes 
ma  chf  soJ^d  is  of  slow  growth.  It  requires 
th.  sea  a,r,  a„d  has  not  suffered  from  the  late  severe 
trost.     We  ,„  ^„,  p,„„,,  ,^^,^^  . 

others  wh,ch  m  fifty  ye«^  had  attained  a  height  of 
about  twenty  or  twenty-five  feet.  Such  a.  have 
reached  forty  feet  vare  supposed  to  be  at  le«,t  a 
century  old  In  those  field,  where  the' negroes  were 
Jl  wntk^nmlwhero  tho  cottou  plain,  wm  still  stand- 


P  3 


%^-. 


316 


BIRDS. 


[Chap.  XVII. 


ing  five  or  six  feet  high,  with  no  other  trees  except 
these  palms,  I  could  well  imagine  myself  in  the  tropics. 
We  put  up  many  birds,  the  names  of  which  were 
all  familiar  to  Dr.  Le  Conte;  among  others,  the 
Virginian  partridge  {Ortyx  virffiniana),  the  rook 
[Corvus  americanus)f  nearly  resembling 'our  Euro- 
pean species,  not  only  in  plumage,  but  in  its  note, 
the  marsh  hawk  ( Circw*  cyancws),  the  snowy  heron 
(Ardea  candidissirhd)^  the  bald-headed  eagle,  the 
summer  duck,  and  ipeadow  lark.  We  also  heard 
the  mocking-bird  in  the  wo^s.  As  we  were  en- 
tering a  barn,  ii  screech-owl  (^wio  dsioi  Lin.)  flew 
out  nearly  in  the  face  of  one  of  the  party.  When 
we  came  to  a  tree  partially  barked  by  lightning, 
-^  I   asked   Dr.    Le    Conte   whether'  he   adopted   the 

"  theory  that  this  decortication  was  caused  by  steam ; 
the  sap  or  juices  of  the  tree,  immediately  under  the 
bark,  being  suddenly  converted  by  the  heat  of  the 
electric  fluid  into  vapour.  He  said  that  lightning 
was  so  common  here,  that  he  had  had  opportUmtie*» 
of  verifying  this  hypothesis  by  observing  that  the 
steam,  or  small  cloud  of  smoke,  as  it  is  commonly 
called,  which  is  produced  when  a  tree  is  struck,  dis- 
appears immediately,  as  if  by  condehsatkni. 

Tllere  ate  decided  proofs  on  the  coast  of  Georgia 
of  changes  in  the  level  of  the  land,  in  times  geologically 
'  modern,  and  I  shall  afterwards  mention  the  stumps 
of  trees  below  the**>^eaj«vel,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Alatamaha  river,  in  proof  of  a  former  subsidence ; 
but  a  stranger  is  in  great  danger  of  being  deceived, 
\)ecause  the  common  pine,  called  the  loblolly  {Pinus 
•^'la\  has  tap-roots  as  large  as  the  trunk,  which  run 


hfi 


fV 


:1s;' 


ChAp.XVIL] 


ALL 


^ 


ORS. 


317 


do^nl  vertically  for.  seven  or  eight  feet,  without  any 
sensible  diminution  in  size.  At  the  depth  of  about 
-^n  f^et  below  the  surface  this  root  sends  oiF  nume- 
rous smaller  ones  horizontally,  and  when  the  sea  has 
^vanced  and  swept  aw^y  the  enveloping  sand  from 
such  tap-roots,  they  remain  erect,  and  become  covered 
with  barnacles  and  oysters.  When  so  circumstanced, 
they  have  exactly  the  appearance  of  a  submarine 
forest,  caused  by  the  sinking  down  of  land.  A  geo- 
logist, who  is  on  his  guard  against  being  deceived-  by 
the  undermining  of  a  cliff,  and  the  consequent  sliding 
down  and  submergence  of  land  covered  with  trees 
which  remain  vertical,  may  yet  be  misled  by  finding 
these  large  tap-roots  standing  upright  under  .water. 

As  the  alligators  are  very  abundant  in  the  swamps 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Savannah,  I  heard  much  of 
their  habits;  and  was  surprised  to  learn  that  pebbles 
are  often  met  with  in  their  stomachs,  which  they  have 
fewaUowed  to  aid  their  digestion,  as  birds  eat  sand  and 
gravel  to  assist  the  mechanical  action  of  the  gizzard. 
The  pecuTiar  conformation  of  the  alligator's  stqmach 
confirms  this  view.  On  the  site  of  some  of  the  old 
Indian  villages  whole  baskets  full  of  flint  arrow-heads , 
have  been  picked  i^p,  and  some  6f  these,  much  worn 
and  rubbed,  have  been  tak-en  out  of  the  stomachs  of 
these  reptiles. 

The  extraordinary  tenacity  of  life  manifested  by  the 
alligator  when  seriously  mutilated,  led  Dr.  Le  Conte  to 
make  a  series  of  experiments,  with  «  view  of  throwing 
light  on  the  philosophy  of  the  nervous  system  in  man 
as  compared  to  the  lower  animals.     A  young  alligator 


P  3 


/ 


SSP. 


>  "•w.ef  T'\7  rf(  ft 


318 


::^ 


ALLIGATORS. 


[Chap.  XVII, 


was  decapitated  at  the  point  where  the  neck  or  atlas 
articulates  with  the  occiput.  Not  njore  than  two 
ounces  of  blood  flowed  from  the  wound.  The  jaws 
of  the  detached  hea4  still  snapped  at  any  thing  which 
touched  the  tongue  or  lining  membrane  of  the  mouth. 
.  After  the  convulsions  produced  by  decapitation  had 
subsided,  the  trunk  of  the  animal  remained  in  a  state 
of  torpofr,  resembling  profound  sleep.  But  when 
pricked  or  pinched  on  the  sides,  the  creature  would 
scratch  the  spot,  sometimes  with  the  fore,  fnd  some- 
times with  the  hind  foot,  according  to  the  situation 
of  the  injury  inflicted.  These  movements  of  the 
limbs  were  promptly  and  determinately  performed, 
and  were  always  confined  to  the  members  on  the  side 
of  the  irritating  cause.  If  touched  below  the  posterior 
extremity  on  the  thick  portion  of  the  tail,  he  would 
slowly  and  deliberately  draw  up  the  hind  foot,  and 
scratch  the  part,  and  would  use  considerable  force  in 
pushing  aside  the  offending  object.  Those  ^peri- 
ments  were  ^.repeatedly  performed,  and  always  with 
the  same  results,  appearing  to  prove  that  the  creature 
could  not  have  been  totally  devoid  of  sensation  and 
consciousness.  Dr.  Le  Conte  concludes,  therefore, 
;fhat  although  in  man,  and  the  more  highly  organized 
vertebrata,  volition  is  seated  in  the  brain,  or  encep^alus, 
this  function  in  reptiles  must  extend  over  the  whole 
spinal  cord,  or  cerebro-^inwi  axis.  Some,  however, 
may  contend  that  the  motions  observed  are  merely 
spasmodic  and  involuntary,  like  sneezing,  the  neces- 
^wiry  results  of  certain  physical  conditions  of  the 
nervous  system,  and  not  guided  in  any  way  by  the 


-   v!i"^|ip.qjif  =f  -H-vfflr-   ■H'y'v    "*'5^^'»ci^w«^ip^a«^ 


"^ 


Chap.  XVII.]        GROVE  OF  LIVE  OAKS. 


319 


mind.  If  so,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  they  have  all 
the  appearance  of  being  produced  with  a  perfect 
knowledge  of  the  end  in  view,  and  to  be  directed  pe- 
culiarly to  that  end ;  so  that  if  we  embrace  the  hypo- 
thesis that  they  supervene  simply  on  the  application 
of  stimuli,  without,^any  sensations  being  parried  to 
the  brain,  and  without  auy  co-operation  of  the  mind, 
must  we  not  in  that  case  suspect  that  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  actions  of  quadrupeds,  usually  attri- 
buted to  the  control  of  the  will,  may  in  like  manner 
be  performed  without  consciousness  or  volition  ?  * 

When  we  got  back  to  Savannah,  I  found  my 
wife  just  returned  from  Bonaventure,  about  four 
miles  distant,  where  she  had  accompanied  a  lady  on 
a  dr®^e  to  see  a  magnificent  grove  of  live  oaks,  the 
br^ches  of  which^  arching  over  head,  form  a  splendid 
aisle.  It  was  formerly  the  fashion  of  the  planters  of 
the  Carolinas  and  Georgia  to  make  summer  tours  in 
the  Northern  States,  or  stay  in  watering-places  there ; 
but  they^e  now  in  the  haWt  of  visiting  the  upland 
region  of  the  Alleghanies  in  their  own  States,  and 
speak  enthusiastically  of  the  beauty  and  grandeur  of 
the  scenery.  Their  intercourse  with  the  North  was 
useful  in  giving  them  new  idei^,  and  showing  them 
what  rapid  progress  civilisation  is  making  there ;  but 
they  have  been  deterred  from  travelling  there  of  late, 
owing,  as  they  tell  noe,  to  the  conduct  of  the  Abdli- 
tionists  towards  the  negro  servants  whom  they  take 
with  them. 


♦  See  a  paper  by  J.  Le  Conte,  New  York,  Journal  of  Me- 
dicine, Nov.  1845,  p.  335. 

A  p  4  ' 


^,'»' 


,# 


.>.~Aip. ■  ■•■  .  :;&u^.,. 


IM 


320 


SLAVES  TAKEN   TO  FREE   STATES.    [Chap.  XVIL 


Sometimes  a  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  is  served,  and 
the  coloured  servant  is  carried  before  a  magistrate  on 
the  plea  that  he  or  she  is  detained  against  their  will. 
Even  where  they  have  firmly  declared  their  wish  to 
return  to  their  owners,  they  have  been  often  un- 
settled in  their  ideas,  and  less  contented  afterwards 
with  their  condition. 


-%i 


T 



/* 

i 

r^ . 

# 

-    -\  

?                 '' 

1   ^ 

'    .                   — 

* 

''■■■ 

--*        * 

• 

L*..d^ba>^)yi  ■  Jt»tj-ji~  , 


iW 


Chap.  XVIII.]        SAVANNAH   TO   DARIEN. 


321 


CHAP.  XVIII. 

Savannah  to  Darien.  — Anti-Slaoery  Meetings  discusseti  —  War 
with  JSngland.  — LaniUng  at  Darien.  —  Crackers.  —  Scettertf 

on  Alatamaha  River Negro  Boatmen   singing.  —  Marsh 

Blackbird  in  Rice  Grounds. — Hospitality  of  Southern  Planters. 
—^New  Clearing  and  Natural  Rotation  of  Trees.  —  Birds.  — 
Shrike  and  KingfisJkr.  —  Excursion  to  St.  Simon's  Island.  — 

Butler's  Island  and  Negroes Stumps  of  Trees  in  Salt 

Marshes  proving  Subsidence  cfLand.  —Alligator  seen. —Their 
Nests  and  Habits.  —  Their  Fear  of  Porpoises.  —  Indian  Shell 
Mound  on  St.  Simon's  Island.  —  Date-palm,  Orange,  Lemon, 
and  Olive  Trees.  —  Hurricanes —  Visit  to  outermost  Barrier 
Island.  —  Sea  Shells  on  Beach. — Negro  Maid-Servants. 


Dec.  31. 1845. — On  the  last  day  of  the  year  we  sailed 
in  a  steaiffer  from  Savannah  to  Darien,  in  Georgia, 
about  125  miles  farther  south,  skirting  a  low  coast, 
and  having  the  Gulf-stream  about  sixty  miles  to  the 
eastward  of  us.  Our  fellow  passengers  consisted  df 
planters,  with  several  mercantile  men  from  Northern 
States.  The  latter  usually  maintained  a  prudent 
reserve  on  politics,  yet  one  or  two  warm  discussions 
arose,  in  which  not  only  the  chances  of  war  with 
England,  and  the  policy  of  the  party  now  in  power, 
but  the  more  exciting  topic  of  slavery,  and  the 
doings  at  a  recent  anti-slavery  meeting  m  Exeter 
Hall,  London,  were  spoken  of.     I  was  told  by  a 


telle 

w  passenger,  tibii 

it  some  of  the 

Georgian  ] 

planters                     1 

:_:. 

> 

. 

a 

jJiiH^    .. 

...^:  -*           i^^fe. 

.     '  . 

to 

~>-* 


322 


ANTI-SLAVERY  MEETINGS.      [Chap.  XVIII. 


who  were  declaiming  most  vehemently  against  Mr. 
Polk  for  80  nearly  drawing  them  into  a  war  with 
Great  Britain,  were  his  warmest  supporters  in  the 
late  presidential  election*  *'  They  are  justly  pun- 
ished," he  said,  ."  for  voting  against  their  principles. 
Although  not  belonging  to  the  democratic  party, 
they  went  f6r  Polk  in  order  that  Texas  might  be 
annexed ;  and  now  that  they  have  carried  that  point, 
their  imaginations  are  haunted  with  the  image  of  the 
cotton  trade  paralysed,  an  English  fleet  ravaging  the 
coast  and  carrying  away  their  negroes,  as  in  the  last 
war,  and,  worst  of  all,  the  Abolitionists  of  the  North 
looking  on  with  the  utmost  complacency  at  their 
ruin."  One  of  the  most  moderate  of  the  planters,  with 
whomT  conversed  apart,''  tgld  me  that  the  official 
avowal  of  the  English  government,  that  one  of  the 
reasons  for  acknowle^ing  the  independence  of  Texas 
was  its  tendency  to  promote  the  abolition  of  slavery, 
had  done  much  ^jgdtienate  the  planters  and  increase  the 
anti-English (jfeenng  in  the  South.  He  also  observed, 
that  any  thmg  like  foreign  dictation  or  intermeddling 
excited  ^pirit  of  resistance,  and  asked  whether  1 
thought  the  emancipation  of  the  West  Ibdian  slaves 
would;  have  been  accelerated  by  meetings  in  the 
United  States  or  Germany  to  prbmote  that  measure. 
H$  then  adverted  to  the  letters  lately  published  by 
Mr.  Colman  on  English  agriculture,  in  which  the 
poverty,  ignorance,  and  stationary  eonditioii  of  the 
British  i)ea8antry  are  painted  in  most  vivid  colours. 
He  also  cited  Lord  Ashley's  speeches  on  the  miseries 
ei^lured  underground  by  women  and  boys  in  coal- 
mines, and  said  that  the  parliamentary  reports  on  the 


""T^**  JV'''W"y 


7»st 


^-^^^^  XfTT  f^iV 


Chap.  XVIII.]       CHANNING  ON  ^LAVERY. 


323 


V 


wretched  state  of  the  factory  children  in  England 
had  been  largely  extracted  from  in  their  papers,  to 
show  that  the  orators  of  Exeter  Hall  might  find 
abuses  enough  at  home  to  remedy  without  declaiming 
against  the  wrongs  of  their  negroes,  whose  true 
condition  and  prospects  of  improvement  were  points 
on  which  they  displayed  consummate  ignorance. 
Finding  me  not  disposed  to  controvert  him,  he  added, 
in  a  milder  tone,  that,  for  his  part,  he  thought  the 
Southern  planters  owed  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  En- 
gland for  setting  the  example  to  American  philan- 
thropists of  making  pecuniary  compensation  to  th^e 
whose  slaves  they  set  free. 

When  I  had  leisure  to  thii^k  over  this  conversation, 
and  the  hint  conveyed  to  my  countrymen,  how  they 
migh^]|;  best  devote  their  energies  towards  securing 
the  progress  of  the  labouring  classes  at  home,  it  oc- 
curred to  me  that  some  of  Channing's  discourses 
against  slav^  might  be  useful  to  a  minister  who> 
should  have  the  pfttriotism  to  revive  the  measure  for 
educatHig  the  factory  children,  proposed  in  1843 
by  Sir  James  Graham,  and  lost  in  consequence  of  the 
disputes  between  the  Chinch  and  the  Dissenters.  It 
would  be  easy  to  substitute  employer  for  owner,  and 
labourer  for  slave,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  elo- 
quent appeal  of  the  New  England  orator  would  be- 
come appropriate : — 

■  "  Mutato  nomine  de  te 


•s.      f 


Fabvla  narratur." 


"  Every  man,"  says  Channing,  in  his  argument 
against  slavery,  "  has  a   right  to  exorcise  and  in- 


fmmm 


mi 


'W^^ 


B24 


CHANNING  ON  SLAVERT-      J[Chap.  XVUI 


vigorate  his  intellect,  and  whoever  obstnictaj,  or 
qu«aadhi^s  the  intellectual  life  in  another,  inflicts  a 
gnevous  and  irreparable  wrong."*  "Let  not  the 
saoredness  of  individual  man  be  forgotten  in  the 
feverisji  pursuit  of  property.  It  is  more  important 
that  the  individual  should  respect  himself,  and  be 
respected  by  others,  than  that  national  wealth,  which 
is  not  ^he  end  of  society,  should  be  accumulated."  t 
"  He  (the  slave)  must  form  no  plans  for  bettering 
his  condition,  whatever  be  his  capacities  ;  however 
equal  to  great  improvements  of  his  lot,  he  his  chained 
for  life  to  the  same  unwearied  toil.  That  he  should 
yield  himself  to  intemperance  we  must  expect,  un- 
used to  any  pleasures  but  those  of  sense."  "  We  are 
told,"  says  the  same  author,  "  that  they  are  taught 
religion,  that  they  hear  the  voice  of  Christ,  and  read 
in  his  cross  the  unutterable  worth  of  their  spiritual 
nature  ;  but  the  greater  part  are  still  buried  in  hea- 
then ignorance."  t  "  They  may  be  free  from  care, 
and  sure  of  future  support,  but  their  future  is  not 
brightened  by  images  of  joy;  it  stretches  before 
them  sterile  and  monotonous,  sending  no  cheering 
whisper  of  a  better  lot."  § 

An  inhabitant  of  one  of  the  six  New  P^ngland  States, 
or  of  New  York,  where,  in  a^opulation  of  five  mil- 
lions of  souls,  one  teacher  is  now  supplied  for  every 
thirty  children,  may  be  entitled  to  address  this  lan- 
guage to  the  Southern  slave-owner;  but  docs  the 
state  of  the  working  classes,  whether  in  Great  Bri- 


•  Channing's  Works,  vol.  ii.  p.  35. 
J  Vol.  ii.  p.  94. 


t  Vol.  ii.  p.  44. 
§  Vol.  ii.  p.  89. 


,..,.1... 


Chap.  XVIII.]         WAR  WITH  ENGLAND. 


325 


tain  or  the  AVeat  Indies,  authorise  us  to  assume  the 
same  tone  ? 

A  merchant  frpm  New  York  told  me,  thj^t  in  «  The 
Union,"  a  semi-official  journal  published  at  Wash- 
ington, and  supposed  to  represent  the  views  of  the 
Cabinet,  an  article  had  just  appeared,  headed  "  The 
whole  of  Oregon  or  none,"  which  for  the  first  time 
gave  hjm  some  uneasiness,  "  A  war,"  he  said,  "  might 
seem  too  absurd  to  be  possible ;  but  a  few  months  ago 
he  had  thought  the  election  of  Mr.  Polk  equaUy  im- 
possible, and  the  President  might  go  on  tampering 
with  the  popular  passions,  till  he  could  not  control 
J||tt.  The  presidential  election  would  have  ended 
aHjpntly,"  he  affirmed,  "  but  for  5000  fraudulent 
^Rs  given  in  the  city  of  New  York."  I  asked  if  he 
thought  the  people  would  enter  with  spirit  into  a 
war  for  which  they  had  made  no  preparation.  "  It 
would  depend,"  he  said,  «  on  the  policy  of  England.  If 
she  made  predatory  and  buccaneering  ^descents  uporf 
the  coast,  as  in  the  last  war,  or  attacked  some  of  the 
great  eastern  sea-ports,  she  might  stir  up  the  whole 
population  to  a  state  of  frenzied  energy,  iind  cause 
them  to  make,  great  sacrifices ;  but  if  she  put  forth  the 
whole  strength  of  her  fleets  against  the  commerce  of 
the  Union,  and  stood  on  the  defensive  in  Canada,  so 
as  to  protract  the  campaign,  and  cripple  their  re- 
venues derived  from  customs,  the  people,  remem- 
bering that  when  the  war  commenced,  the  Cabinet 
of  St.  James's  and  the  English  press  were  pacific 
and  willing  to  come  to  a  compromise  about  Oregon, 
would  become  impatient  pf  direct  taxation,  and  turn 


!,'i  i 


! 


---»!-■ 


326 


LyiNDING  AT  DABIEN.      [Chap.  XVIII. 


> 


against  the  party  which  had  plunged  them  into  hos- 

^   tilities."  <,.     ; 

■  Y  Dec'Zl., —  At  the  end  d£  «(  long  day's  sail, ^ our 
steamer  landed  us  safely  at  the  village  of  Darien, 
on  the  sandy  banks  of  the  river  Alatamaha  (which 
is   jpronounced    Altamaha,    the    a's    broad).      The 

-  .  sky  was  clear,  and  the  air  mild,  but  refreshing, 
and  we  ■v^ere  told  that  we  must  walk  to  the  inn,  not 
far  off.  Five  negroes  were  .very  officious  in  offering 
their  services,  and  four  of  them  at  length  adjusted 
all  our  packages  on  their  backs.  The  other,  having 
nothing  else  to  do,  assumed  the  command  of  the 
party,  h&ving  first  said  to  me,  "  If  you  npt  ready, 
we  will  hesitate  for  half  an  hour."  We  passed  under 
some. of  the  noblest  evergreen  oaks  I  had  yet  seen, 
their  large  picturesqu^  roots  spreading  on  all  siiies, 
half  out  of  the  loose^^ndy  soil,  «md  their  boughs  hung 
wilH  unusually  long  weepers  of  Spanish  moss.  When 
I  had  paid  Cfixr  four  porters,  the  one  who  had  gone 
first,  assuming  an  air  of  great  importance,  "  hoped  I 
wbuld  remember  the  pilot."  As  the  inn  was  almost 
in  sight  from  the  landing,  and  our  course  a  direct  one 
in  a  briffht  moonlight  night,  and  all  the  men  quite 
familiar/ with  every  step  of  the  way,  we  were  not  a 
little  diverted  at  the  notion  of  paying  for  a  guide, 
but  the  good-humoured  countenance  of  the  pilot 
made  his  appeal  irresistible^  The  bed  at  our  hum|[)le 
inn  was  clean,  but  next  morning  wo  were  annoyed 
by  having  to  sit  down  to  breakfast,  with  a  i)Oor  white 
family,  to' whom  the  same  compliment  could 'not  be 
paid  —  a  man  and  his  wife  and  four  children,  belong- 
ing to  the  class  calWd  "  crackers  "  in  Georgia,     The 


*''       .• 


HAP.  XVIII.]      8CBNEBY  ON  ALATAMAHAI 


327 


etymology  of  thia  word  is  rather  uncertain,  some  de- 
riving it  fi;om  the  long  whips  tised  by  the  "waggoners. 
They  are  a  class  of  small  proprietors,  who  seem  tQ 
acquire  slovenly  habits  from-  dependence  on  slaves, 
of  whoni  they  can  maintain  but  few. 

The  next  morning,  while  we  were  standing  oh  the 
river's   bank,    we    were   joined    by   Mr.  Hamilton 
Couper,  with  whom  I  had  corresponded '  on  geologi- 
cal matters,  and~^hom  I  have  already  mentioned  as 
the  donor  of  a  splendid  collection  of  fossil  remains 
to  the  Museum  at  Washington,  and,  I'may  add,  of 
other  like  treasures  to  that  of  Philadelphia.     He 
came  down  the  river  fo  meet  us  in  a  long  canoe^ 
hollowed  out  of  the  trunk  of  a  single  cypress,  and 
rowed  by  six  negroed,  wh6  were  singing  loudly,  and 
Jceeping  time  to  the  stroke  of  their  oats.    H^  brough*  ' 
us  a  packet  of  letters  from  England,  which  had  been 
sent  to  his  house^  wjelcome  .^N^^w  Year's  gift,  and\ 
jwhen  we  had  glanced  ov^r  th^ir  oonients  we  entered  . 
the  boat  and  began  to  ascend  the  Alatfimixha.    '^      / 

The  river  was  fringed  on  botksides  with  tolf  canes 
and  with  thq  cypress  (Qupresaus  disticha},  and  many 
other  trees,  still  leafless,  which,  being  hung  with ^ey 
moss,  gave  a  sombre  tone  to  the  scenery  at  this  sc*jon, 
in  spite  of  the  green  leaves  of  several  specks  of  layrel, 
myrtle,  and  magnolia.  But  wherever  there  was  a 
b^k  in  the  fringe  of  tree?,  which  flourished  luxu- 
riantly in  the  swamps  bordering  the  river,  a  fore8t,of 
pvergredn  pines  was  jeen  in  the  back-ground.  llpr 
many  a  mile  wasaw  no  habitation^,  and  the  soUtade 
was  profound ;  but  our  t)lack  darsmen  niad6  th^  woods 
echo  to  their  song.     One  of  them  taking,  t^e  lead, 


•|i 


ji^     k  "^Vfi'  *■*  ^\    ?*7R" 


I' 


V^ 


{ 


328     ^         NBdRO  BOATMEN  SINGING.      [ChIp.  XVIH. 

master's  family,  and  to 'a  celebrated  black  beauty 
of  the  neighbourhood,  who  was  compared  to  the 
"red  bird."  The  other  five  then -joined  in  chorus, 
always  repeating  the  s^me  words,  Occasionally  they 
struck  up  a  hymn,  taught  them  by  the  Methodists, 
.  in  which  tide  most  sacred  subjects  w^re  handled  with 
straage  familiarity,  and  whichj  though-  nothing  irre- 
verent was  nieant,  sounded  oddly  to 'our  ears,  and, 
N^hen  following  a  love  ditty,  almost  profane. 

Diirien  is  on  the  left"  or  northern  bank  of  the 
Alatamaha.  About  fifteen  miles  above  it,  on  the 
opposite  bank,  we  came  to  Hopeton,  the  residence  of 
Mr.  H.  Couper,  having  first  passed  from  the  river 
into  a  canal,  which  traversed  the  low  rice  fields. 
Here  we  put  up  prodigious*  flights  of  the  marsh 
blackbird  {Agelaiui^  ph(jemceus\  sometimes  called  the 
red-winged  starling,'  because  t"he  male,  has  some  scar- 
let feathers  in  the  upper  part  of  his  wing.  When 
several  thousands  of  th^m  are  in  rapid  motion  at 
once,  they  darken  the  air  like  a  cloud,  and  then, 
when  the  whole  of  them  suddenly  turn  their  wings 
edgeways,  the  cloud  vanishes,  to  re-appear  as 
instantaneously  the  next  moment.  Mr.  Couper  en- 
courages these  birds,  as  they  eat  up  all  the  loose 
grains  of  rice  scattered  over  the  field  after  the  har- 
vest has  been  gathered  in.  If  these  seeds  are  left, 
they  spring  up  the  year  following',  producing  what  is 
called  volunteer  rice,  always  of  inferior  quality  to 
that  which  is  regularly  sown.  From  the  rice  grounds 
we  walked  up  a  bank  to  a  level  table-land,  composed 
jof  sand,  a  few  yards  ohohi  the  river,  and  covered 


^.. 


U; 

V   ^              * 

' 

•M 

\tfe- 

J 

*■ 

, 

'< 

• 

..^ 

iiL 

1 

Chap.  XVIIl]        SOUTHERN   PLANTERS. 


329 


}l 


with  pines  and  a  mixture  of  scrub-oak.     Here,  in 
this  genial  climate,  there  are  some  wild  flowers  in 
bloom  every  day  of  the  year.     On  this  higher  level, 
near  the  slope  which  fac^s  the  rice  fields  and  the 
river,  stands  the  house  of  Hopeton,  where  we  spent 
our  time  very  agreeably  for  a  fortnight.     Much  has 
been  said  in  praise  of  the  hospitality  of  the  Southern 
planter,  but  they  alone  who  have  travelled  in  the 
Southern  States,  can  appreciate  the  perfect  ease  and 
politeness  ^ith  which  a  stranger  is  made  to  feel  him- 
self at  home.     Horses,  carriages,  boats,  servants,  are 
all  at  his  disposal.     Even  his  little  comforts  thought 
of,*  and  every  thing  is  done  as  heartily  and  naturally 
as  if  no  obligation  were  conferred.     When  Northern- 
ers  who   are  not   very  oach  receive  guests  in   the 
country,  *where  domestic  servants  are  few  and  expen- 
sive, tbey  are  often  compelled,  if  they  would  ensure 
the  comfort  pf  their  vlli tors,  to  perform  menial  offices 
themselves,     The  sacrifices,  therefore,  made  by  the 
planter,  are  comparatively  small,  since  he  has  a  well- 
trained   establishment  of  servants,  and  his  habitual 
style  of  living  is  so  free  and  liberal,  that  the  expense 
of  a  few  additional  inmates  in  the  family  is  scarcely 
felt.     Still  there  is  a  warm  and  generous  openness  of 
character  in  the    Southerners,  which   mere   wealth 
arid  a  retinue  of  serv?,nts  cannot  give;    and  they 
have  often  a  dignity  of  manner,  without  stiffness, 
which  is  most  agreeable.  -  •  -     , 

^  The  landed  proprietors  here  visit  each  other  in 
the  style  of  English  country  gentlemen,  sometimes 
dining  out  with  their  families  and  returning  at  night, 
or,  if  the  distance  be  great,  remaining  to  sleep  and 


HI 


^4 


^ 


/. 


330 


< 


ROTATION  OF  TREES.         [CttAP.  XVIII. 


coming  home  the  next  morning.  A  considerable 
part  of  thpir  food  is  derived  from  the  produce  of  the 
land ;  but,  as  their  houses  are  usually  distant  from 
large  towns,  they  keep  large  stores  of  groceries  and 
of  clothing,  as  is  the  custom  in  country  houses  in 
^  some  parts  of  Scotland.  *' 

"  Near  the  house  of  Hopeton  there  was  a  clearing 
in  the  forest,,  exhibiting  a  fine  illustration  of  that 
natural  rotation  of  crops,  which  excites,  not  without 
reason,  the  surprise  of  every  one  who  sees  it  for  the  first 
time,  and  the  true  cause  of  which  is  still  imperfectly 
understood.  'The  trees  which  had  been  cut  down 
were  full-grown  pines  {Pinus  australis),  of  which  the 
8urroundii>g  wood  coasists,  and  which"  might  have 
gone  on  for  centuries,  one  generation  after  another, 
if.  their  growth  had  not  been  interfered  with.  But 
now  the^  are  succeeded  by  a  crop  of  young  oaks,  and 
we  naturally  aak,(  whei^ce  came  the  a,com8,  and  how 
were  they  sown  here  in  such  numbers  ?  It  seems ' 
that  the  jay  {Garrulus  cristatus)  has  a  propensity  to 
-  bury  acorns  and  various  grains  in  the  ground,  for- 
getting to  return  and  devour  them.  The  rook,  also 
{(Jorvus  americanus),  does  thie  same,  and  js*  do  some 
squirrels  and  other  Rodentia ;  and  they  plant  them  so 
deep,  that  they  will  not  shoot  unless  the  air  and  the 
sun's  rays  can  penetrate  frdely  into  the  soil,  as  when 
the  shade  of  the  pine  trees  has  been  entirely  removed, 
It  must  occasionally  happen,  that  birds  or  quadru- 
peds, which  might  otherwise  have  returned  to  feed 
on  the  hidden  treasure,  are  killed  by  some  one  of 
their  numerous  enemies.  But  as  the  seeds  of  pipes 
must  be  infinitely  more  abundant  than  the  acorns. 


iMMii 


"TSi^         J'Sf^r    ^' 


W  '  "^  "^^  ■n?='?|^''^J^3P''^w^^^f?- 


3 


Chap.xviil]    botation  of  trees.  sm 

we  hare  still  to  explain  what  principle  in  vegetable 
life  favours  the  rotation.     Liebig  adopts  De  Can- 
doUe's  theory  as  most  probable.     He  supposes  that 
the  roots  of  plants  imbibe  soluble  matter  of  every 
kind  from  the  soil,  and  absorb  many  substances  not 
adapted  for  their  nutrition,  which  are  subsequently 
expelled  by  the  roots,  and  returned  to  the  soil  as  ex- 
crements.    Now,  as  excrements  cannot  be  assimilated 
by  the  plant  whicl^  ejected  them,  the  more  of  these 
•matters  the  soil  contams,  the  less  fertile  must  it  be- 
come for  plants  of  the   same  species.     These  exu- 
dations, however,  may  be  capable  of  assimilation  by 
another  perfectly  different  kind  or  family  of  plants, 
which  would  flourish  whUe  taking  them  up  from  the 
soil,  and  render  the  soil,  in  time,  again  fertile  for  the  . 
first  plants.'   During  a  fallow,"  says  Liebig,  «  the 
action  of  the  sun  and  >^mosphere,  especially  if  riot 
intercepted  by  the  growth  of  ^^eedsTcauses  the  de- 
composition  of  the  excrementitious  matter^,  and  con* 
verts  the  soil  into  humus  or  vegetable   mould,  re- 
storing fertility."  * 

In  one  part  of  the  pine  forest,  I  saw  the  Liqui- 
dambar'tree  growing  vigorously  fifty  feet  high, 
with  a  bark  resembling  cotk.  The  bird  of  brightest 
plumage  was  the-  on6  called  the  red  bird  or  red 
cardinal  (Loxia  cardinalis),  which  has  "a  full,  clear,  • 
and  meUow  note,  though. ijo  variety  of  song.  It 
frequents  bushes  it  the  neighbourhood  of  houses, 
where  it  comes  to  be  fed,  but  will  not  thrive  in  cap- 
tivity. One  day,  a  son  of  Mr.  Couper's  brought  us  • 
a  hen  cardinal  bird  and  a  wild  partridge,  both  taken 
•  Liebig'fl  Organic  Chemistry,  pt.  i.  ch.  8. 


ssmmmmmmmm 


k 


332 


SHRIKE  AND  KINGFISHER.      [Chap.  XVIII. 


uninjured  in  a  snare.  It  was  amusing  to  contrast 
the  extreme  fierceness  of  the  cardinal  with  the  mild- 
ness and  gentleness  of  the  partridge.  That  insects, 
birds,  and  quadrupeds,  of  the  same  genera,  but  of 
distinct  species,  discharge  similar  functions  in  An^ 
rica  and  Europe,  is  well  known.,  My  attention  was 
called  here  to  some  thorny  bushes,  on  which  the 
shrike  or  loggerhead  (Lanius  ludovicianus)  had  im- 
paled small  lizards,  frogs,  and  beetles,  just  aa  I  have 
seen  mice  and  insects  fixed  on  thorns  by  our  English 
shrikes.  Here,  also,  the  marshes  near  the  river  are 
frequented  by  the  belted  kingfisher  {Alcedo  alcyon), 
resembling  in  plumage,  though  not  so  brilliant  as 
the  English  kingfisher,  which  yet  lingers,  in  spite  of 
persecution,  in  the  reedy  islands  of  the  Thames  above 
London.  Mr.  Couper  tells  me,  that  the  American 
bird  dives  after  its  prey,  like  that  of  Europe,  and 
will  often  carry  a  fish,  not  much  smaller  than  itself, 
and  beat  it  against  the  stump  of  a  tree,  first  on  one 
side,  then  pn  the  other,  till  every  bone  in  its  body  is 
broken ;  it  can  then  swallow  it,  in  spite  of  its  size. 

A  few  days  after  our  arrival  (January  4.  1846), 
Mr.  Couper  took  us  in  a  canoe  down  the  river  from 
Hopeton  to  one  of  the  sea-islands,  called  St.  Si- 
mon's, fifteen  miles  distant,  to  visit  his  summer  resi- 
dence, and  to  give  me  an  opportunity  of  exploring  the 
geology  of  the  coast  and  adjoining  low  country.  Wfe 
saw,  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  the  Magnolia  glaucuy 
attaining  a  height  of  thirty  feet,  instead  of  being  only 
ten  feet  high,  as  in  the  swamps  of  New  England.  The 
gum  tree,  Nyssa  aquatica,  out  of  leaf  at  this  season, 
was  conspicuous,  from   the   manner  in    which   the 


'   itf  .^'^   7. 


Chap.xviil]        butler's  island.  333 

smooth  trunk  swells  out  at  the  ba^e,  being  partially 
hollow  ,n  the  interior,  so  that  it  is  often  used  by  the 
negroes  for  bee-hives.      Jays  and    blue-birds  were 
very  abundant,  and  there  were  several  large  hawks' 
nests  on  the  tope  of  tall  dead  trees. 
^        Among  the  zoological  characteristics  of  the  North 
American  rivers,  none  is  more  remafkable  than  the 
variety  of  species  of  shells  of  the  genus  Unio,  or  fresh 
water   mussel,  whicih   inhabit  them.      Every  great 
stream  yields  some  new  forms,  and  Mr.  Gouper  has 
already  discovered  in  the  Alatamaha   no   less  than 
sixteen  species  before  unknown ;  one  of  these,  Unio 
spinosus,  has  a  singular  appearance,  being  armed  with 
spines  standing  out  horizontally  from  the  shell,  and 
probably  acting  as  a  defence  against  some  enemy.    " 

On  our  way  we  landed  on  Butler's  Island,  where 
the  banks  of  the  river,  as  is  usual  in  deltas,  are  higher 
than   the  ground  immediately  behind  them.     Thev 
are   here  adorned   with   orange  trees,   loaded   with 
golden  fruit,  and  very  ornamental.     We  saw  ricks  of 
nee  raised  on  props  five  feet  high,  to  protect  them 
from  the  sea,  which,  during  hurricanes,  has  been  known 
to  rise  five  or  six  feet.     The  negro  houses  were  neat 
and  whitewashed,  all  floored  with  wood,  each  with 
an^apartment    called  the   hall,  two  sleeping-rooms, 
ajid  ,  loft  ior  the  children ;  but  It  is  evidenrthat  on 
these  rice  farms,  where  the  negroes  associate  with 
scarcely  any  whites,  except    tlie    overseer    and   his 
family,  and  have  but  little  intercourse  with  the  slaves 
of  other  estates,  they  must  remain  far  more  stationary 
than  where    as  in  a  large  part  of  Georgia,  they  are 
about  equal  in  number  to  the  whites,  or  even  form  a 


r 


^ 


TREES  IN  SALT   MARSHES.      [Chap.  XVIII. 

minority.  The  negroes,  moreover  in  the  interior  are 
healthier  than  those  in  rice  plantations,  and  multiply 
faster,  although  the  rice  grounds  are  salubrious  to  the 
negroea  as  compared  to  the  whites.  In  this  lower 
region  the  increase  of  the  slaves  is  rapid,  for  they  are 
well  fed,  fitted  for  a  southern  climate,  and  free  from 
care,  partly,  no  doubt,  because  of  their  low  mental 
^'  development,  and    partly   because    they   and  their 

children  are  secured  from  want.  Such  advantages, 
however,  would  be  of  no  avail,  in  rendering  them  pro- 
lific, if  they  were  overworked  and  harshly  treated. 

As  we  approached  the  sea  and  the  brackish  water, 
the  wood  bordering  the  river  began  first  to  grow 
dwarfish,  and  then,  lowering  suddenly,  to  give  place 
entirely  to  reeds;  but  still  we  saw  the  buried  stum^' 
and  stools  of  the  cypress  and  pine  continuing  to  shoisr. 
themselves. in  every  section  of  the  bank,  maintainipg 
the  upright  position  in  which  they  originally  grew* 
The  occurrence  of  these  in  the  salt  tnarshes  clearly 
demonstratiM  that  trees  once  flourished  where  they* 
would  now  be  immediately  killed  ^  the  ?alt  water. 
There  must  have  been  a  change  il^fyp&lative  level 
of  land  and  sea  to  account  for  th^r  fii6kp|;h,  sincOj 
even  above  the  commencement  of  the  bracH^  water, 
similar  stumps  are  visible  at  a  lower  level  Thatt  the 
present  high  tide,  and  covered  by  layena  6f  sedimen-  . 
tary  matter,  on  which  tall  cypresses  and  other  tree* 
are  now  standing.  From  such  phenomena  we  ma^ 
infer  the  following  sequence  of  events: —first,  an  fiii- 
cient  forest  was  submerged  sevettil  f(S0t,  add  the  sunk; 
trees  were  killed  by  the  salt  lieater;  they  the^ 
rotted  away  down  to  the  water  level  (a  long  opero- 


/» 


.^ 


/•■'' 


">  ■  -  V 


9 1 


Ch„.  XVIII.]      TREES  IN   SALT  MAESHES.  335 

tion),  after  Which  layers  of  sand  were  thrown  down 
upon  the  Stops;  and  finaUy,  when  the  snZe Zd 
been  ra,sed  by  flBviatUe  sediment,  as  in  a  Zt^t 
new  forest  grew  up  o«r  the  ruins  of  the  old  ole 

for  I  r  *^*  ""  '^'^^  "^  ""^  *''"'«^  i3  slow, 

Z\^-»l^T^'''  ^"P^*""'  *"*  h»d  been  p„" 

bark,  which  stood  erect  on  the  borders  of  the  ri«. 

^«g4'of  B.r::^*:^nK^^^^^ 

have  remarked,  whe*||^i„  fjq,  th,/*^  ■ 
flat  islands  on  the  So^asleU  L  the  1  r 
-d  adjoining  -dy  region,  ri^rlgbwhir'^r^;' 
pvers  wmd,  and  which  afford  so  sLre  a  ZZZ 
for  schooners,  boat.,  and  canoes,  may  be  a  sfn  t^ 
advance  gained  by  the  continent  on  ieMu'l 
modem  times.  "  But  if  so,"  he  add^,  .'t  t^ZZ 
that,  at  a;;peri6d  immediately  preced  or.  ti/ 

gon^f  lowland  stretched  ;i^^::^tr:^ 
On  the  latter  subject  his  words  are  so  much  to  tL 
pomt,  as  to  deserve  being  quoted i-  ° 

^'  It  seems  evident,  even  to  demonstratiMBthat  tho«, 
salt  marshes  adjoining  the  coast  of  theW  aid  tu 
reedy  and  grassy  isla,^  and  marshe    i^C  fvet 
■which  are  now  overflowed.at  eve,y  tide,  were  fo 
;  meriy  b,gh  swamps  of  firm  land,  afforfing  Ws  rf 
^PW  tupelo,  magnolia  grandiflo™,  o»k,^a^nwee[ 
W.  ,».d  other  timber  ti^es.  the  sLe  as  LZt 
growmg  on  the  river  swamps,  whose  surfaced  twi 
fe^or  more  above  the  spring  tides  that  flow  at"h    daT 
And  .t  .s  -plainly  to  be  seen  by  evaqr  phmter  alon. 


#■ 


336 


ALLIGATORS. 


[Chap.  XVIIL 


K 


V^ 


# 


=r 


the  coast  of  Carolina,  Georgia,  and  Florida,  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi, whien  they  bank  in  these  grassy  tide  marshes 
for  cultivation,  tha^;  they  cannot  sink  their  drains 
above  three  or  four  feet  below  the  surface,  before 
they  come  to  strata  of  cypress  stumps  and  other  trees, 
as  close  together  as  they  now  grow  ift  the  swamps."  * 
When  our  canoe  had  proceeded  into  the  bracikish 
water,  where  the  river  banks  consisted  of  marsh  land 
covered  with  a  tail  reed-like  grass,  we  came  close  up 
to' an  alligator  about  nine  feet  long,  basking  in  the 
sun.  Had  the  day  been  warmer,  he  would"  not  have 
allowed  us  to  approach  so  near  to  him,  for  these 
reptiles  are  much  shyer  than  formerly,  since  they 
have  learnt  to  dread  the  avenging  rifle  of  the 
planter,  whosd  stray  hogs  and  sporting  dogs  they 
often  devour.  About  ten  years  ago,  Mr.  Couper 
tells  us,  that  he  saw  200  of  thetn  together  in  St. 
Mary's  River,  in  Florida,  extremely  fearless.  The 
oldest  and  largest  individuals  on  the  Alatamaha  have 
been  killed,  and  they  are  how  rarely  twelve  feet  long, 
and  never  exceed  sixteen  and  a  half  feet.  As  almost 
all  of  them  have  been  in  their  winter  retreats  ever 
since  the  frost  of  last  month,  I  waq^-^lad  that  we  had 
surprised  oA°!  in  his  native  haunts,  and  seen  him 
plunge  iuio  the  water  by  the  side  of  our  boat.  When 
I  first  rend  Bartram's  account  of  alHgators  more  than 
twenty  feet  long,  and  how  they  attj^cked  liis  boat  and 
bellowed  like  bulls,  and  made  a  B<Aind  like  distant 
thunder,  I  suspected  him  of  exaggeratiod,  but  all  ray 
inquiries  here  and  in  Louisiana,  convinced  me  that 

;t -W.-flftKi'ani's  Tnivi'la  through  North  and*  Bnuth  CarolinH, 
GAia,&c.Londun,  179-2.  ^'  *     * 


'M 


«i 


ft.',>SI-9»^  'f  i 


C..P.  xvnr,-  ALUO.XOB-S  »Eer  ani,  h^b.xs.    337 

he  may  be  depended  unon      Ki.  „„ 

nests,  which  they  build  T^l  .  °"""  »'"*« 

«>n.eet     They  «^»1'  h        T"''*''  ''P^"'^"? 

construeted  with  mud,  g^  a'd  ,  1  '  *"'"« 
they  deposit  one  layer  of  ^^  „"  .  «'*"«?  ^^»t 
"Id  having  covered  th,-;  ^  ^°'"'  "^^  '"°'^'> 

mud  and  htraZ  1^17  *t  ■?""''  «"'""»  »   ' 
of  eggs  upon  th^ll^d^o"    ^  ^  J:^r  r.'^* 
commonly  from  one  hundred  Z  two  h      ,    T  ^'°^ 

~  the  ap;rrhT„reretmt/»'^  f 
watches  her  essa  untU  f  Ko„  'J"«miea.    i he  female 

or  the  sun,  anTt^:  't^    Xt^'^'-d  ^^ '«"" 

defending  them,  and  provTdin/for^        Z  ^"^  <^«> 

Dr.  Lu.enbergor,  of'Newlfrlll''  "m"'*'''','"''^-* 
once  packed  up  one  of  iZ      ™'™'  '"^  roo  tlmt  ho 

bo.  for  the  ^Z:  of  St  C  T  *^  ^S^'  '"  " 
reeommended,  before  he  cfJ^erirt"""' ^ ''"'  ""  • 
,  was  no  danger  of  any  of  i^      ' .     "^  """  ""ere 
the  voyage'    OnZ:!^:'^^^''"'^.  '"""''^  »" 
walked  out,  and  was  soon  „ft      /./"""S  ""■■«»«"' 

-t,  about 'a  hundM Thi  h  he'" 'r.*^  ^  •"  ""> 
where  they  went  „n      T  "-^  '"  h's  house, 

-d  barki4X  yI?p^;L%r'"'  "■""'-« 
o-ously,  yet  their  growth  w!,  '    ..        ^'  "'"  ™"- 
him  in  the  common  opb^?  Z     T-  ".  '"  ™"''™    » 
h.vc  attained  the  larlT"";  ^"^"?*r«l"»ls  which 
though  whether  theyC  for  Ih^      7"^  «'^'"  "8^> 

p-nd,mustbode^cidedi.yr.:c":::;r"'*' 


/ 


■.!.#■% 


VOL.  I. 


JsTtrmn,  p,  lag. 


r  - 


.,* 


338 


INDIAN   SHELL   MOUND.     [Chap.  XVIII. 


H 


^*T 


Mr.  Couper  told  me  that,  iri  the  summer  of  1845, 
he  saw  a  shoal  of  porpoises  coming  up  to  that  part  of 
the  Alatamaha  where  the  fresh  and  salt  water  meet,, 
a  space  about  a  mile  in  length,  the  favourite  fishing 
ground  of  the  alligators,  where  there  is  brackish 
water,  which  shifts  its  place  according  to  the  varying 
strength  of  the  river  and  the  tide.  Here  were  seen 
about  fifty  alligators,  each  with  head  and  neck^  raised 
above  water,  looking  down  the  stream  at  their 
enemies,  before  whom  they  had  fled,  terror-stricken, 
and  easpecting  an  attac^f.  The  porpoises,  no  more 
than  a  dozen  in  number,  moved  on  in  two  ranks,  and 
were  evidently  complete  masters  of  the  field.  So 
powerful,  indeed,  are  they,  that  they  have  been  known 
to  chase  a  large  alligator  to  the  bank,  and,  putting 
their  snouts.under  his  belly,  toss  him  ashore. 

We  landed  on  the  north-east  end  of  St.  Simon's 
Island,  at  Cannon's  Point,  where  we  were  gratified 
by  the  sight  of  a  curious  monument  of  the  Indians, 
the  largest  mound  of  shells  left  by  the  Aborigines  in 
any  one  of  the  sea-islands.  Here  are  no  less  than 
ten  acres  of  ground  elevated  in  some  places  ten 
feet,  and  on  an  average  over  the  whole  area  five 
feet  above  the  general  level,  composed  throughout 
HiAt.  depth  of  myriads  of  cast-away  oyster-ahells,  with 
some  mussels,  and  hero  and  there  a  modiola  and 
helix.  They  who  have  seen  the  Monte  Teetaceo 
near  Rome,  know  what  great  results  may  proceed 
from  insignificant  causes,  where  the  cun[iulative  power 
of  time  has  been  at  work,  so  that  a  hill  may  be  formed 
out  of  the  broken  pottery  rejected  by  the  population 
of  a  large  city.'    To  them  it  will  appear  unnecesaary 


V' 


i^m. 


} 


C..P.  XVmO        ME.  COUPER'8    VILLA.  339 

head,    stone  ^es,  a„d  f^g^^nls  ortndiln  rC- 

neaped  up  ftt  Cannon's  Point,  must    frn«,  *k  • 
nature  have  been  caught  m  a  dist'n"  1  one  o  ti: 
outer  islands ;  and  it  is  well  kn#wn  thlf^i?  t  l 
^ere  in  the  hah.-f  «f     7      ^nrnvn  that  the  Indians 

there  is  a  fine  irroJp  hi'  **^^  ^^^^^s,  of  whioh 

in  Per,,   and  'L"1T  "^"'^nir:.""^ 
oranges  have  been'^much  hurt^  W    T  u      ^' 

u    9 


<&1 


g  8 


% 


^  ,0m 


smm 


340 


HURRICANES. 


[Chap.  XVIII. 


'    • 


-\ 


/ 


found  to  stretch  with  their  boughs  over  a^  are*  63  feet 
in  diameter.  X  measured  otie  which  Was  thirty-five 
years  old,  and  found  the  trun.k  to  be  just  35  inches 
in  diameter  near  the  base,  showing  an  annual  gain 
of  3  inches  in  circumference.  Another,  growing  in 
a  favourable  situation,  forty-two  year^  old,  was  9  feet 
6  inches, in  girth  at  the  height  of  l^f.foot  above  the 

ground.         j 

The  island  of  St,  Simon's  i^  so  low,  that  the  lower 
'  part  of  it  was  under  water  in  1804  and  1824,  when 
hurricanes  set  iivwith  the  wind  from  the  north-east. 
Nearly"  the  entire  surface  was  subtnerged  in  1756. 
In  that  year  the  «ea  rose,  even  as  far  north  as 
Charleston,  to  the  height  of  six  feet  aboVfe  its  ordinary 
level,  and  that  city  might  havef-been  destpyed,  had 
the  gale  lasted  in  the  same  direction  a  few  hours 

longer. 

1  went  with  Mr.  Couper  to  Long  Island,  the 
outermost  barrier  of  land  betwe^nSt.  Simon's  and 
the  ocean,  four  miles  long,  and  a'Bout  half  a  mile 
wide,  of  recent  formation,  and  consisting  of  parallel 
ranges  of  sand  dunes,  marking  its  growth  by  succes- 
sive additions.  Some  of  the  dunes  on  this  coast 
have  been  raised  by  the  wind  to  the  height  of  40  or 
60  feet,  and  enclose  evergreen  oaks  (  Quercus  wir«n*), 
the  upper  branches  of  which  alone  protrude  above 
the  surface.  Between  the  parallel  sand  dunes  were 
salt  marshes,  where  wo  collected  the  plant-eating  shell 
called  Auricula  bidentata,  of  a  genus  peouli&r  to  such 
littoral  situations.  On  the  sea-beach,  we  gathered 
no  less  than  twenty-nine  speoics  of  marine  Bhells, 
and  they  were  of  peculiar  interest  to  me,  becauae 


4 


w  -         il^Kl*''7','i 


Chap.  XVIIL] 


MABINE   SHELLS. 


341 


'-    they  agreed'  specifically  with   those   which   I   had 
.   obtained  froral '  the  s^ta  lying  immediately  below 
the   megatherium   and   other  fossils   in  Skiddaway 
Island,  and  which  occur  below  similar  remains  pre- 
sently to  be  mentioned  near  Hppeton.     In  ^om| 
plaices  we  found  bivalves  only  of  the  gener^  Pholas, 
''  Lutrafitty  SolecurtuSyPetricqia,  Tellina,  Donax,  Venus, 
Cardium,  Afca,  Pinna,  and  Mytilvts,  just  as  in  the 
, ,.  fossil  group.     On  other  parts  of  tKe  beach  there  was 
a   mixture    of  univalves,    Oliva,  Pyrula   ^ulgur), 
-  Buccinum,  &c.      Besides  these  shells  we  found,  scat- 
tered over  the  sands,  a  scxitelk  and  cases  of  the  king 
crab  (Limulus),  and  fragments  of  turtles,  with  bones 
of  porpoises.  ^  4 

Every  geologislt  who  ^  has    examined    strata  con- 
sisting of  alternations  of  sandstone  and  shale,  must 
occasionally  have  observed  angular  or  rounded  pieces 
,of  the   shale   imbedded   in  the   sandstones,  a  phe- 
nomenon which  seems   at  first  sight  very  singular,. 
^  because  we  might  almost  say  that  the  formation  is 
in  part  made,  up  of  its  own  ruins,  and  not  derived 
wholly  from  pretexisting  rocks.      On  the  exposed 
>    coast  of  this  "  frontier  island,"  I  saw  a  fiflfeliPlete  ex- 
.    planation   c^^'the   manner  in  which   thnpMStructure 
'   originates.    IJepouts  of  sand  and  beds^  of  clay  are 
formed  alternatel}^  at  different  seasons,  ''and  at  the 
time  of  our  visit  the M|^;  was  making  great  inroads  onr^ 
.  an  argil^ceous  mass,  washing  out  \^^»  of  the  half- 
consolidated  clay,  and  strewing  thenFovor  the  sands, 
some   flat,   others   angular,  01^  rolled   into   various- 
sijEod  |)ebbles.     These  when  carried  out  into  the  <id- 
joining  parts  of  the  sea,  must  be  often  included  in 


/ 


M: 


'#: 


:^.±= 


t     '\     -'*    ^1 


It^. 


pQp  MAlD-SteRVANts^^yjp^^VlII 

ixtlsw''    V  'rye  .■".: 

sand,  wh|p  may  be  eventually 
stone.      m .  ^        '   ,    -     • 

-|j&iong||he  numeron^  eea-tods, 
i|S»ired  one  galled  thfl^shig^r-wler, 
note,  and  n|)4  rapid^&t.      It 
.^     On  my  retl^lfi  to  (34||bn'8  pjint;  i^'found, 
well-8tore4  ^rary  of  Mri^  C 
^cha^'a^.Fonep;    Treel^a 

ral  histOFy;   also  Came 

^lAmt^a,  fblK).  Mloiii|iu4»h  the  su- 

i^|W.th6  larger  drawings  of^the  monuments 

ircHitecture  Struck  me,pi4ph,  as  comparedl' 

«^-c    r^*.   ?t  'F"'^'^  ^"^^^^   6»ven  in  ft^ephens's  Central 

tM*^$^m?nc4  :t)y  the  6ame  artist,  altli^gh  these  also  are 

*!«>.-.  v.|^iry  descriptive.  ^     ''  -&,,   , 

^i  During  our  excursion  to  the  8W)each,  my  wife 
.  hAd  b^en  visited  by  some  ladies  weU  Ipquainted  with 
relations  of  her  own,  who  formerly  Iwided  in  this 
part  of  Georgia,  ^nd  who,  when  th^  returned  to 
England,; had  taken  back  with  them  an- old  negress. 
One.  of  the  coloured   Aaid-servants  of  the  ladies 

feeling  no  dpubt  tijat  Mrs.  W ,  although  she  had 

recrpBsed  thfe  Atlantic,  would  be  as  much  interested 
as  ever  in  "her;  history,  gent  innumerable  messages, 
begmnin^  with,  «  Pray  tell  her  that  Mra.  A.  has 
^iven  me  and  my  children  to  Mrs.  B.'»  They  were 
all  very  curious  to  know  about  their  former  friend, 
Delia,  the  black  maid,'  and  how  she  had  got  on:in  Eng ' 
land.  On  being  told  that  she  had  hl«n  shocked  at 
seemg  so  many  beggars,  anAW^80QM|them.for  not 
worki^they  luughed  heartily,  snj^l  was  so  like 
her  tdMd  ;  but  they  also  ex^lj^B'tdmahmer^  at 


e^ 


% 


■'**^'l»ri^-T--'    n- n  I  II   r 


-t^i.   -  « -    -     •„ 


,    ji_is^    "ia;ii.il^BMv^*i 


II 


^■"-(f       rs  «■"^^,1S!?(75^??3*»«s  ■si'uffis^f^,  f        'li'ig^^^' 


>         •< 


Chap.  XYHL] 


mendicity; 


343 


the  idea  of  a  White  mendicant,  there  being  pone,  so  far  • 
as  they^knew,  white  or  coloured,  in  Georgia.  Onp  of  the 
ladies  explained  the  term  "  beggar"  to  sigliify,  in  Eng- 
land, a  "  mean  white  person ; "  and  said  to  an  attendant 
who  had  once  accompanied  her  to  the  North,  "Do 
you  not  remember  some  mean  white  men,  who  asked, 
me  for  money  ?"  Talking  over  this  story  in  Alabfuma, 
I  was  told  that  mendicity  is  not  so  entirely  unknown 
iu  the  South  ;  that  a  superannuated  negress,  having  a 
love  of  rambling,  and  wishing  to  live  by  begging, 
asked  her  master  to  set  her  free,  **  for  when  I  beg, 
every  one  asks  me  why  I  do  not  go  to  my  otirner." 
"  What  vtiU  you  do  in  winter,"  said  he,-  /*  whesnyou 
cannot  travel  about ? "  "I  will  come  back  to  you 
then,"  she  replied,  "  and  you  will  take  care  of  me  in 
the  cold  weather." 

The  sea-islands  produce  the  finest  cotton,  and  we 
saw  many  women  employed  in  separating  the  cotton 
frdm  the  seeds  with  their  fingei;;^  a  ne,4i,and  clean 


oociupation. 


01 

J 


1 


,   •  .,*  w 


like  ; 
lat 

# 

(1 

s 

V 

I 

0 

Q   4       t^ 

""'L     * 

« 

J 

> 

i 

, 

v« 

• 

1 

*. 

•( 

\ 

%:^ 

. 

* 

»" 

1 

.._.,., 

«  » 

^NNHh 

k 

' 

Ilciil  'i'"    &JLi 


iiV  , 


'"'^^liiiiiiPilPK'- 


\ 


>. -  i.-k'",^ 


344 


RIVEBS  MADE   TURBID         [Chap.  XIX. 


CHAP.  XIX. 

Rivers  wade  turbid  by  the  Clearing  of  Forests.  -  Land  rising  in 
^cemve  Terraces.  -  Orisin^  of  these.  -  Ban.s  of  e^inct 
Quadrupeds  rn  Lower  Terrace.  -  Associated  Marii  Shells. 
Tnf^fn^f  ""'"^  C««a/.-£:r/.„cftV,«  of  Megatherium 

and  Us  Contemporaries.- Dying  out  of  rare  Species.- Oor- 
damaPubescens.-Life  of  Southern  Planters.- Negroes  on  a 
R^ce  Plantation       Blach  Children.-Separnte  Negfo  hZI 

-  Work  exacted.  -  Hospital  for  Negroes.  -  pJand  BreL 

-  Bl^k  Drtver.  -  Prevention  of  Crimes. -African  Tom.- 
Progress  of  Negroes  in  Civilisation.-  Conversions  to  Christ 
tiantty.  -  Episcopalian,  Baptist,  and  Methodist  Missionaries 

,    ~  Amalgamation  and  Mixture  of  Baces.  '. 

We  returned  from    St.  Simon's  to   Hopeton  much  * 
ple^d  with   our   expedition.      As  our   canoe  was 
Hcuddmg  through  the  clear  waters  of  the  Alatamaha, 
Mr.  Couper  mentioned  a  fact  which  Bhmp  the  effect 
of  herbage,  shrubs,  and  trees  in  protecf  ig  the  soil 
frbto  the  wasting  action  of  rain  and  torrents.      For- 
merly, even  during  flo|pi,  the  Alatamaha  was  trans- 
parent, or  only  stained  of  a  darker  colour  by  decayed 
vegetable  matter,  like  some  streams  iii  Europe  which 
flow/ out  of  peat  mpsses.     So  late  as  1841,  a  resident 
here  could  distinguish  on  which  of  the  tt^o  branches 
of  the  Alatamaha,  the  Oconee  or  Ocmulge^,  a  freshet 
had  occurred,    for  the  lands   in  the   upn^r  country 
dramed  by  one  of  these  (the  Oconee)  ^ad  already 
been  partially  cleared  and   cultivi^ted,   so  that  that 


i^ 


sf- 


wasm 


f.T'^r^  ^7*^ ' 


-^~-J^^?<liV-T<J>^^    j-TnKSpjgtj 


XIX. 


Chap.  XIX.]      BY  CLEABINO  OP   P0BEST8. 


345 


tributary  sent  down  a  copious  supply  of  red  mud, 
while  the  other  (the  Ocmulgee)  remained  clear,though 
swollen.  But  no  sooner  had  the  Indians  been  driven 
out,  and  the  woods  of  their  old  hunting-grounds 
begun  to  give  way  before  the  axe  of  the  new  settler, 
than  the  Ocmulgee  also  became  turbid.  I  shall  have 
occasion,  in  the  sequel,  to  recur  to  this  subject,  when 
speaking  of  some  recently  formed  ravines  of  great 
de^th  and  width  in  the  red  mud  of  the  upland  country 
near  MilledgeviUe  in  Georgia. 

The  low  region  bordering  the  Atlantic,  comprising 
the  sea-islands,  such  as  St.  Simon's,  and  the  flat  Or 
neaiiy  level  plains  of  the  main  land  immediately  ad- 
joining has  an  average  height  of  from  ten  to  twenty 
feet,  although  there  are  a  few  places  where  it  reaches 
forty  feet,  above  the  sea.  It  extends  twenty  Q^s 
inland,  and  consists  of  sand  atfd  clay  of  very  modern 
formation,  as  shown  by  the  incluaed  marine  shells, 
which  are  like  those  of  Skiddaway,  before  mentioned  *, 
all  identical  with  living  species.  This  superficial  de- 
posit, although  chiefly  marine,  contains,  in  some  parts, 
beds  of  freshwater  origin,  in  which  the  bones  of  extinct 
mammalia  occur.  The  whole  group  would  be  Called 
by  geologists  fluvio-marine,  and  is  of  small  depth, 
resting  immediately  on  Eocene,  or  lower  tertiary 
strata,  as  I  ascertained  by  examining  the 'jMBJ^I 
brought  up  from  several  wells.  Going  inland  twenty 
miles,  we  come  to  the  termination  of  this  lower 
terrace,  and  ascend  abruptly '  to  an  upper  platform, 
seventy  feet  above  the  lower  one,  the  strata  com- 


Antfe,  p.  314. 

Q    5 


i 


lUk, 


,^/7 — - 


346 


SUCCESSION  OF  TERRACES.      [Chap.  XIX. 


.V 


^, 


> 


S« 


m 


#a 


long  to  the  Eocene  period.     This 
>^  nins  fcrack  about  twenty  miles  to 
irmination  of  a  third  table-land,  which 
10  about  seventy  feet  higher,  and  xwnsists  of 
'Ocene  strata,  by/the  denudation  of  which  all  these 
terraces  and  eeca^^ntyftr  ancient  sea-cliffs)  have 
been  formed,     i^iipigf  wilfc  hi^usual  accuracy, 
alluded  to  these  step«,  or 'succession  of  terraces,  as 
an  important  geographical  feature  of  the   country, 
each  of  them  being  marked  by  its  own  "botanical 
characters,  the  prevailing  forest-trees,  as  well  as  the 
smaller  plants,  being  different  i^  each. 

To  return  ix)  the  first  platform,  or  lowest  land : 
from  ten  to  forty  fe^  above  th^/ level  of  the  sea,  it 
»^onsi8ts  of  k  modern  deposit,  which  extends  400  milesv 
si  northward  to  the  muse  in  N^fei  CaroliimA^nd  pro- 
bably farther,  in  the  same  db^tion,  along  SeAtlantic 
.^or-der.     How  far  it  stretches  southwards,  I  am  ndt 
™^^ed.     I  conceive  it  to  have  been  accumulated 
in  a  sea,  into  which  j^ny  rivers  poured  during  a 
gradual  siibsid^e  of  the  land,  and  that  th^trata, 
whether  fre8tlva%   or  mar^ie,   formed   during  the 
""^li  of;^^  bottom  of  th*  sea,  have  been  since 
brougpup  ^ain  to  ^eir  present  elevation.    Through- 
out/this  low  flat  region  the  remains  of  extinct  qua- 
drupe(^(^  occasioni^y  met  i«^h,  and  the  deposit 
appearst^be  vei-y^an&lfm)!**' to  the  gpeat  f^mpfean 
formation  OIL  the  bor^gp^  the  Atlanti^n  South 
America, -as-  de|gbed  by  Jltfr:  Datwin.     Here  and 
in  the  Pampas- ip&^tons  of  m^y  quadrupeds  of 
the  saitie^t^ener^ioFas  the  Megatherium,  Mega- 
lonyxy.  Mglodon,  'Mastodon,  and  £quus  occur.     In 


*% 


'^ 


% 


> 


J&^        Ul^ 


1^*^  Ai 


'■SV   <   S"  "^     ■"'  I*»*      " 


« 


f 


TT^^i  I     -^}fi=r  '  .fST', 


Chap.  XIX.J  BKUNSWICK   CANAL. 


347 


both  cases  it  has  been  proved  that  the  mammalia,  all 
of  which  differ  specifically,  and  most  of  them  gene- 
rically,  from  those  now  living,  flourished,  neverthe- 
less^ at  a  time  when  the  Atlantic  was  inhabited  by 
the  existing  species  of  moUusca,  and  when  the  cli- 
mate, therefore,  of  the  ocean  at  least,  could  not  have 
varied  materially  from  that  now  prevailing  in  these 
latitudes^ 

Through  part  of  the  region  occupied  by  the  mo- 
dem deposits  above  mentioned,  a  canal  was  cut  in 
1838-39,  nine  d^les  in  length,  called  the  Brunswick 
Canal,  to  unite  the  navigation  of  the  Alatamaha  and 
Turtle  rivers ;  a  rash  undertaking  of  some  specu- 
lators from  the  Northern  States,  which,  had  the  work 
been  conjpleted,  could  not  hav«  repaid  the  outlay. 
A^but  200,000Z.  (900,000  dollars)  were  expended;  a 
sum  which  might  have  gone  far  towards  obtaining 
geological  surveys  of  many  of  the  Southern  States, 
whereas  the  only  good  result  was  the  discovery  of 
some  valuable  fossil  remains ;  and  even  these  fruits 
of  the  enterprise  would  never  have  been  realised,  but 
f(»  the  accidental  presence,  energy,  and  scientific 
knowledge  of  Mr.  Hamilton  Couper.  Part  of  the  ske- 
leton of  a  megatherium,  dug  out  in  cutting  the  canal, 
was  so  near  the  surface,  that  it  was  p^trated  by 
the  roots  of  a  pine-tree.  It  occurred  j^  J^,  appa- 
rently a  freshwater  deposit,  and  undeHsfWrth  it  were 
beds  of  sand,  with  marme  shells  of  recent  species. 
It  was  also  covered  with  sand,  probably  marine,  but 
without  shells.  So  many  parts  of  the  same  skeleton 
Were  found  in  juxta-position  as  to  suggest  the  idea 
that  a  whole  carcass  had  been  floated  by  the  river  to 

Q_6 


■m 


6' 


'i.y 


l/ , 


348 


FOSSIL  BBUAIHS. 


iommlsax:- 


*• 


the  spot,  and  even  wjbere  the  bone?  were  sKghtl^ 
scattered  they  were  not  injured  by  being  rolled.    The 
remains  of  other  quadrupeds  associated  with  this  gi* 
gantic  sloth,  consisted  of  mylodon,   mastodon,  ele- 
phant, equus,   and  bos,  besides  a  fossil,   to  which 
Mr.  Owen  has  glve^  th^  name  of  Hat^nm  ame^ 
ncanus,  a  new  genus,  intermediate  between  Lophio- . 
don  and   Toxodon.   It  had  been  supposed  that  the, 
hippopotamus  and  sus  were  among  this  assemblage 
of  fossil  genera:  but  this  waa.  a  mistake;  nor  have 
either  of  these  genera  been  al  yet  met  with,  fossil  or 
recent,  in  any  part  of  America,  although  the  swine 
introduced  by   man   have  Multiplied  so  fast.     The 
horse  {^guus  curvidens)  wak  a  species  havings  teeth  in 
the  upper  jaw  more  curved  than/ any  liviBg  horse, 
ass,  zebra,  or  quagga;  and  it  is  singulai^  that,  al- 
though there  was  no  wild  representative  of  the  horse 
tribe  on  the  American   continent,  north  or  soutl^ 
when  discovered  by  the  Europeans,  yet  two  other 
fossil  horses  were  found  by  Mr.  Nuttall  on  the  banks 
of  the  Neuse,  fifteen  miles  below  Newberne,  in  North 
Carolina.*     The  shells  and  bones  of  a  large  extinct 
species  of  tortoise  were  also  found  to  accompany  the 
above-mentioned  fossil  quadrupeds  of  Georgia;  and 
;^  I  myself  picked  up  many  fragmeptsof  this  Chelonian 
strewed  over  the  banks  of  earth  cast  up  from  the 
Brunswick  Canal. 

In  another  part  of  the  excavations  made  in  digging 

*  Mr.  Conrad  entrusted  me  with  Mr.  Nuttall's  collection, 
and  Mr  Owen  has  found  among  them  the  three  species  of 
Equidffi  here  alluded  to,  Equu.s  curvidens,  £.  plicidens,  and  n 
third  species  of  the  size  of  £.  a««!M. 


i^r  / 


-i' 


Chap.  XIX.}     EXTINCTION  OP  QTfADEUPEDS.         340 

the  canal,  the  ribs  and  vertebrae  of  a  whale  Much 
rolled,  and  with  barnacles  attached  to  them,  w«r^ 
discovered  belonging  to  the  subjacent  marine  forma- 
tion. In  this  sand  the  shells,  as  before  stated,  are 
of  recent  species,  and  Mr.  Hamilton  Couper  has  col- 
lected no  less  than  forty-five  distinct  species  exclu- 
«iv§  of  Echinoderms. 

in  what  manner,  then,  has  the  destruction  of  these 
quadrupeds,  once  so  widely  spread  over  the  American 
continent,  been  l5rought  about?  That  they  were  ex- 
terminated by  the  arrows  of  the  Indian  hunter,  is 
the  first  idea  presented  to  the  mind  of  almost  every 
naturalist.  But  the  investigations  of  Lund  and 
Clausen  in  the  limestone  caves  of  Brazil  have  esta- 
blished the  fact,  that  with  the  large  mammttlia  theVe 
were  Associated  a  great  many  smaller  quadrupeds, 
some  of  them  as  diminutive  as  field  mice,  which  have 
1^11  died  out  together,  while  the  land  shells,  once  their 
contemporaries,  still  continue  to  exist  in  the  same 
countries.  We  must  look,  therefore,  to  causes  more 
geneKil  and  powerful  than  the  intervention  of  man, 
to  account  foir  the  disappearance  of  the  ancient  fauna, 
an  event  the  more  remarkable,  aek.many  of  the  species 
had  a  very  wide  range,  and  must  therefore  have  been 
capahk^  of  accommodating  themselves  to  considerable 
variations  pf  temperature.  ^  isThe  same  species  of  me- 
gathie^lum,  for  example,  rafi^ed  from  Patagonia  and 
the  river  Plata  in  South  Ameiijica,  between  lati- 
tules  31°  andU^f^souith,  to  CQrresponding  latitudes 
of  khe  northern  l^tinent,  and  was  also  an  inhafctant 
^f  the  intermediate  country  of  Brazil,  in  the  cave8  of 
which  its  fossil  remains  are  met  with.     The  extinct' 


ff  A'i 


a 


C-, 


I 


■V 


.360  EXTERMINATING  (5aU8E8.      [Chap.  XUU 

elephant  also-  of  Georgia  {Elephas^ primigenius)  haa 
been  traced  in  a  fossil  state  northward  from  the 
Alatamaha  to  the  Polar  regions,  and  then  south-west- 
ward through  Siberia  to  the  south  of  Europe. 

As  to 'the  exterminating  causes,  I  agree  with3Ir. 
Darwii^  that  it  Is  th#  height  J^preaumption  for  any 
geologist  to  be  astonished  that^e  canifpt  render  an 
account  of  theni".     No  naturalist  xan  pre^nd  to  be 
so  well  acquainted   vv;th  all  the  *  circum^tauces   on 
which  the  continuance  upon  the. earth  of  Bny  living 
species  depends,  as  to  be  6n1;itl£d  to  wpnder  if  it 
should  diminish  rapidly  m  number  flor  geographical 
range.      But   if  his   speculationg  should  emtrtice  a 
period   in  which   considerable-  changes  •  in  ,phy8ical 
geography  are,  known  to  have  'occurred,  ^as  is  the    ' 
case  in  North  and  South  America  smce  the  mega-   " 
therium  flouriHJied,  how  much  riiore  difl^ult* would  it  ' 
be  to  appreciate  all  the  cffcc,ti  of  local  modifications^.^ 
of  climate  and   cliangcs  in   the  stations  of  G<>ntem-(; 
porary  animals  and  plants,  on  all- which,  and  maiw 
other  conditions,  tiie  perrtianertce  of  a  species  muafcv*, 
depehd.     Until  we  nnders^nd  the  physiological  cdh-i 
stitutions  of  c/rgan4c  bciiigs  so  wc^lh  that  we  can  cx- 
^  plain  ,why  an   epideini(|flfc  contagious  disease  may 
rage  for  uiontlis  or  yoar^mnd  cut  off  p,  large  propbr- 
tiop  of  the  living  individuals  of  one   species  whjJe 
another  is  spared,  how  can  we  ho{)e  to  expl^n,  why,,,, 
in  the  great  stnijrglo  for  .existence,  Some  speciea  are 
multiplying,  while  y)tJicra  are  decrftisiirg  in  number? 
"  If,"  says  Darwin,  "  two  species  of  tUoisame  genus, 
and  of  clotlely  allied  habit^,  jfeople  th^  same  distriot,^ 
and  we  camiot  say  why  one  of  tlicm  is  rare  and  the 


"< 


^.'i  * 


1 


r. 


r> 


i 


'>*" 


"♦. 


'  .<" 


.f 


n    ' 


■mvip 


r^ 


StJU 


Chap,  XIX.]        GORDOUIA  PDBESCEfl^S. 


36^1 


other  CQpimon,  what  right  havQ  we  to  wonder  if ,  the 
rarer  of* the  two  should  cease  to  exist  altogether?**' 
In  illustration  of  this  principle,  I  may  refer  to  tw6 

beautiful  evergreens  flourishing  in  this  part  of  Georoia, 
species  qf  Gordonia  (or  Franklinia  ,,of  Barfrara^  a 
plant  allied  to  the  camellia.  One  of  these  I  saw 
'every where  in  the  swamps  near  the  Alatamaha,  whfre 
,1  it  is  ^alled^  the  loblolly  bay  {Gordonia  lasianthus), 
^  forty 'feet  higj),  and  even  higher,  with  dark  green 
leaves,  and  covered,  I  am  told,  in  the  flowering  sea*- 
son,  with  a  pro^sibn  of  milk-white,  fragrant  blossoms. 
This  .pl^t /lias  a  wide  range- -in  the  Southern  States, 
whereas  tiro  other,  G.  pubescem,  often  seen  in  grcCTi- 
btouses  in  England,  about  thirty  feet  high,  is  confined,' 
as  I  am  informed  by  Mr.  Qouper,  to  a  very  limited  area 
twenty  miles  in  'its  greatest  length,  the  jame  region 
where  Btirtrara  first  discovered  it,  seventy*  years  uo-o, 
net^r  Burrington  Ferry,  on  the  Alatamaha.*  In  ijjft 
other  spot  in  th|e  i^holeKjoatinent  of  America  has  it  ever 
been  det<3ctcd.  If  we  wofe  told  that  one  of  these  two 
'  evergreens '  was  dcstinpll  in  the  next  2()00  or  3000 
years  to  "become  extinct,  how  could  we  conjeotare 
which  of  them  wtnild  endure  tyclonger?  Wo  ought  to 
Itriow,  first  whether  the  area  occupied  l>y  the  onehas 
been  diYni.nishing-  and  Ujiit  of  the  other  increasing, 
and  then  which  of  thoj^two  plants  Jias  been  on  the 
(idvance.  But  even  then  we  should  require  to  ^reseie  ' 
a  countless  mmiber  of  other  circumstances.  i*|the 
anifnaio  and-inaniiimte  world  aflicting  the  two^e- 
ciea,  l)efore  we  cbuld  make  a  pn)bablc  gufgs  as  to 


•  Buth-tti^,  ^i).  151),  4Ua. 


'.^ 


■  / 

/ 


4 


(•' 


t' 


'* 


4^ 

1          ^ 

h 

* 

1.                       **; 

■ 

^^^^S^^^^^^^^M 

%\ 


352      '  SOUTHERN  PLANTERS.  [Chap.  XIX. 

their  comparative  durability.  A  single  frost"  more 
severe  than  that  before  alluded  to,  which  cut  oflf  the 
orange-trees  in  Florida  after  they  had  lasted  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half,  might  baffle  all  our  calculations; 
or  the  increase  of  some  foe,  a  minute  parasitic  insect, 
perhaps,  might  entirely  alter  the  conditions  on  which 
the  existence  of  these j)r  any  other  trees,  shrubs,  or 
quadrupeds  depends.  ' 

During  a  fortnight's  stay  at  Hopeton,  we  had  an 
opportunity  of  seeing  how  the  planters  live  in  the 
South,  and  the  condition  and  prospects  of  the  negroes 
on  a  well-managed  estate.    1  he  relation  of  the  slaves 
to  their  owners  resembles  nothirig  in  the  Northern 
States.     There    is   nn    hereditary  regard  and  often 
attachment  on  both  sides,  more  like  that  formerly 
existing  between  lords  and  their  retainers  in  the  old 
feudal  times  of  Europe,  than  to  any  thing  now  to  bfe  * 
found  in  America.     TRe  slaves  identify  themselves 
with  the  master,  and  their  sense  of  their  own  im- 
portance rises  with    bin   success   m  life.      But  the 
responsibility  of  the  owners  is  felt  to  be  great,  and 
to  manage  a  plantation  with  profit  is  nO  easy  ta«k,  so 
inuch  judgrffent  is  required,  and  sucji  a  mixture  of 
firmness,  forbearance,  and  kindness.    The  evils  of  the 
system  of  slavery  are  said  to  be  exhibited  rn  their 
worst-  light  when  new  settlers  come  from  the  Free 
States;  northern  uieit.   who  are  full  of  activity,  and 
who  strive  to  make  a  rapid  fortune,  willing  to  risk  tLir 
own  lives  in  an  unhealthy  Himuto,  and  who  cannot 
make  allowance  fot  the  n /nignance  to  continuous 
labour  of  the  twgru  raw,  or  tire  diminished  motive 
for  exertion  til  the  slave.      To  one  Ivho  arrives   in 


^, 


lie  "Who 

4^ 


-^ 


'\ 


^  •    (11 


r 


\ 


Chap.  XIX.]    NEGROES  ON  A  RICE  PLANTATION.     353 

Georgia  direct  from  Europe,  wrth  a  vivid  impressibn 
on  his  mind  of  the  state  of  the  peasantry  there  in 
many  populous  regions,  their  ignorance,  intempe- 
rance, and  improvidence,  the  difficulty  of  obtaining 
subsistence,  and  the  small  chance  they  have  of  bet- 
tering their  lot,  the  condition  of  the  black  labourers 
on  such  a  property  as  Hopeton,  will  afford  but  small 
ground  for  lamentation  or  despondency.  I  had  many  " 
opportunities  while  here  of  talking  with  the  slaves 
alone,  or  seeing  them  at  work.  I  may  be  told  that 
this  was  ^  favourable  specimen  of  a  well-managed 
estate ;  if  so,  I  may  at  least  affirm  that  mere  chance 
led  me  to  pay  this  visit,  that  is  to  say,  scientific 
objects  wholly  unconnected  with  the  "  domestic  in- 
.stitutions  "  of  the  South,  or  the  character  of  tjie  owntfr 
in  relation  to  his  slaves ;  and  I  may  say  the  same  in 
regard  to  every  other  locality  or  proprietor  visited  by 
me  in  the  course  of  this  tour.  I  can  but  relate  what 
passed  under  my  own  eyes,  or  what  I  learnt  from  good 
authority,  concealing  nothfiig.  i 

There  are  50().  negroes  oij  the  Hopeton  estate,  a 
great  many  of  whom  are  ch&jdrcn,  and  some  old  and 
superannuated.  The  latter  chiss,  yfhh  would  be  sup- 
ported in  a  pqor-house  in  Kngland,  enjoy  here,  to  the 
etid  of  their  days,  the  societyjof  their  neighbours  and 
kinsfolk,  and  live  (it  largo  in  separate  houses  assigned 
to  ^em.  The  children'  have  no  regular  wot*k  to  do 
till  they  arc  fbn  or  twelve  years  old.  Wo  see  that 
some  of  them,  at  this  season,  arc  set  tO  pi^^  up  dead 
leaves  from  the  paths*  others  tq  attend. tfie,  babies. 
When  the  motlicrs  are  at  work,  the  yoting  cb'ddren 
arc  looked  after  by  aii  old  negrcsH,  called  'Mom 
. JL 


i' 


354 


BLACK  CHILDREN. 


[Chap.  XIX. 


d^ 


Diana.  Although  very  ugly  as  babiesi  they  have 
such  bright  happy  faces  when  three  or  four  years  old, 
and  from  that  age  to  ten  or  twelve  have  such  frank 
and  confiding  manners,  as  to  be  very  engaging. 
Whenever  we  met  tljem,  they  held  out  their  hands 
to  us  to  shake,  and  when  my  wife  caressed  them, 
she  was  often  asked  by  some  of  the  ladies,  whether 
she  would  not  like  to  bring  up  one  of  the  girls  to  love 
her,  and  wait  upon  her.  The  parents  indulge  their 
own  fancies  in  naming  the  children,  and  display  a 
singular  taste;  for  one  is  called  January,  another 
April,  a  third  Monday,  and  a  fourth  Hard  Times. 
The  fisherman  on  the  estate  rejoices  in  the  appella- 
tion of  «  Old  Bacchus."  Quash  is  the  name  of  the 
favourite  preacher,  and  Bulally  the  African  name  of 
another  negro. 

The  out-door  labourers  have  separate  houses  pro- 
vided for  them  ;  even  the  domestic  servants,  except  a 
few  who  are  nurses  to  the  white  children,  live  apart 
from  the  great  house  —  an  arrangemew  mrt  always 
convenient  for  the  wasters,  as  there  ig  no  ooe  to 
answer  a  bell  aftdr  a  certain  hour.  But  if  we  place 
ourselves  in  the  condition  of  the  majority  of  the 
population  —  that  of  servants  —  we  see  at  once  how 
many  advantages  wo  should  enjoy  over  the  white 
race  in  the  .same  rank  of  life  in  Eurof)e.  In  the 
first  place  all  can  marry  ;  and  if  a  mistrew  »\vjiM 
lay  on  any  young  woman  here  the  injunction  mi 
common  in  English  newspaper  advertisements  for  • 
repaid  of  all- work,  "no  followers  allowed,"  it  wouW 
be  considered  an  extraordinary  act  of  tyranny. 
The  labourers  begin  work  at  six  o'clock  in  the  mora- 


1 


■^. 


■■-'"'V- 


%  -k-A, 


«Rr 


Chap.  XIX.] 


NEGRO   HOUSES. 


355 


ing,  have  an  hour's  rest  at  nine  f6r  breajtfast,  and 
many  have  finished  their  assigned  task  by  two  o'clock, 
all  of  them  by  three  o'clock.  In  summer  they 
divide  their  work  differently,  going  to  bed  in  the 
middle  of  the  day,  then  rising  to  finish  their  task, 
and  afterwards  spending  a  great  part  of  the  night  in 
chatting,  merry-making,  preaching,  and  psalm-sing- 
ing. At 'Christmas  they  claim  a  week's  holidays, 
when  they  hold  a  kind  of  Saturnalia,  and  the  owners 
can  get  no  work  done.  Although  there  is  scarcely 
any  drinking,  the, master  rejoices  when  this  season  is 
well  over  without  mischief.  The  negro  houses  are 
as  neat  as  the  greater  part  of  H^  cottages  in  Scot*- 
knd  (no  flattering  con)plimcnt  it  must  be  confessed), 
are  provided  always  with  a  back  door,  and  a  hall,. as 
they  call  it,  in  wliich  is  a  chest,  a  table,  two  or  three 
chairs,  and  a  few  shelves  for  crockery.  On  the  door 
of  the 'sleeping  apartment  th#)r  keep  a  large  wooden 
padlbck,  to  guard  their,  valuables  from  their  neigh- 
bours when  they  are  at  work  in  the  field^  for  there 
is  much  pilfering  among  them.  A  little  yard  is 
often  attached,  in  which  are  seen  their  oliickens, 
a^d  usually  a  yelping  cur,  kept  for  their  amuse- 
ment. 

The  winter,  when  the  whites  enjoy  the  best  health, 
is  the  trying  season  for  the  negroes,  who  are  rarely 
ill  in  the  rice-grounds  in  summer,  which  are  so  fatal 
to  the  .whitcM,  that  when  the  planters  who  have 
retreated  to  the  sea-islands,  revisit  their  estates  once 
a  fortnight,,  they  dare  not  sleep  at  home.  Such  is  the 
indifference  of  the  negroes  to  heat,  thai  they  are 
often  found  sleeping  with  thctf  faces  upwards  in  a 


.# 


A. 


i'i.:/  ■' .  ■;  ■■■< '''.. 


356 


HOSPITAL   FOR   NfeOROES.     [Chap.  XIX. 


...# 


broiling  eun,  instead  of  lying  under  the^  shade  of  a  tree 
hard  by.     We  visited  the  hospital  at  Hopeton,  which 
.  consists  of  three  separate  wards,  all  perfectly  clean  and 
well-ventilated.    One  is  for  men,  another  foryig&inen, 
•nd  a  third  for  lying-in  women.    The  latter  are  always 
allowed  a  month's  rest  after  their  confinemeift,  an 
advantage  rarely  enjoyed  by  hard-jivorking  English 
peasants.     Although  they  are  better  looked  after, 
and  kept  more  quiet,  on  these  figcasions  in  the  hos- 
piial,  the  planters  are  usually  baffled,  for  the  women 
prefer  their  own  houses,  where  they  o^t^  gossip  with 
their  friends  without  restrain^  and  thej^  usually  con- 
trive to  be  taken  by  surprise  at  home. 
*  The  negro  mothers  are  often  so  ignorant  or  in- 
dolent, that  they  cannot  be  trusted  to  keep  awake 
and  administer  medicine  to  their,  own  children,  so 
that  the  mistress  has  often  to  sit  up  all  night  with  a 
sick  negro  child.     In  submitting  to  this,  they  are 
actuated  by  mixed  motives— a  feeling  of  kindness,  and 
a  fear  of  losing  the  services  of  the  slave  ;  but  these  " 
attentions  greatly  attach  the  negroes  to  their  owners. 
In  genera],  they  refuse  to  take  medicine  from  any 
other  hands  but  those  of  their  master  or  mistress. 
The  labourers  nre  allowed  Indian   meal,  rice,  and 
milk;   and   occasionally  pdrk  and   soup.     As  their 
rations   are   more   than   they   can   eat,   they   either 
return  part  of  it  to  the  overseer,  who  makes  them 
an  allowance  of  money  for  it  at  the  end  of  the  week, 
or  they  keep  i^   to   feed    their  fowls,    which  they 
usually  ^ell,  *i^ell  as  their  egfrs,  for  cash,  to  buy 
molassi^  tob|k6co,  and  other  luxuries.     When  dis- 
posed   to   ejfert  themselves,    they  get   through   the 


4 


«.  it 


f  tre^?^     fliPrT—^jTf^ft' 


A' 


i 


Chai^u  XIX.] 

I 

I 
day'k  task  i 


WORK    EXACTED. 


357 


five  hours,  and  then  amuse  themselves 
in  msmng,  and  sell  the  fish  they  take;  or  some  of 
the^  employ  their  spare  time  in  making  canoes  out 
of  farge  cypress  trees,  leave  being  -  readily  granted 
thetn  to  remove  such  timber,  as  it  aids  the  land- 
owner to  clear  the  swamps.  They  sell  the  canoes 
for  about  four  dollars,  for  their  own  profit. 

If  the  mistress  pays  ^  visit  to*  Savannah,  the 
nearest  town,  she  is  oveifwhelmed  with  commissions, 
so  many  of  the  slaves  wishing  to  lay  out  their  small 
gains  in  various  indulgences,  especially  articles  of 
dress,  of  which  they  are  passionately  fond.  The 
stuff  must  be  of  the  finest  quality,  and  many  instruc- 
tions are  given  as  to  the ,  precise  colour  or  fashion- 
able shade.  White  muslin,  with  figured  patterns,  is 
the  rage  just  now. 

One  day,  when  walking  alone,  I  came  upon  a 
"  gang "  of  negroes,  wh»  were  digging  a  trench. 
They  werc^  superintended  by  a  black  '*  driver,"  who 
held  a  whip  in  his  hand.  Some  of  the  labourers 
were  using  spades,  others  cutting  away  the  roots  and' 
stumps  6f  trees  which  they  had  encountered  in  the 
line  of  the  ditch.  Their  mode  of  proceeding  in 
their  task  was  somewhat  leisurely,  and  eight  hours  a 
day  of:  this  work  are  exacted,  though  they  can 
accomplish  the  same  in  five  hours,  it  they  undertake 
it  by  the  task.  The  digging  of  a  given  number  of 
feet  in  length,  breadth,  and  depth  is,  in  this  case, 
assigned  to  each  ditcher,  and  a  deduction  made  when 
they  fall  in  with  the  ftump  or  root.  The  nameg  of 
g6,ng8  and  drivers  are  odiouii,  and  the  sight  of  the 
whip  waa  paiufui  to  mp  m  a  mark  of  degradation, 


■^   ,w*f?tM1K— 


'!^W9!rSlf'''S!^fSBl^fi^  ■*t"^'(B>™  * 


/- 


358 


PREVENTION   OF   CRIMES.       [CftAP.  XIX. 


'  reminding  me  that  the  lower  orders  of  slaves  are 
kept  to  their  work  by  mere  bodily  fear,  and  that 
their  treatment  must  depend  on  the  Individual  cha- 
racter of  the  owner  or  overseer.  T^hat  the  whip  is 
rarely  used,  and  often  held  for  weeks  over  them, 
merely  in  terrorem,  is,  I-  have  no  doubt,  true  on  all 
well-governed  estates;  *and  it  is  not  that  formidable 
weapon  which  I  have  seen  exhibited  as  ft^rmerly  in 
use  in  the  West  Indies.  It  is  a  thong  of  kather, 
half  an  inch  wide  and  a  4"^^ter  of  an  inch  thick. 
No  ordinary  driver  is  allowed  to  give  more  than  six 
lashes  for  any  offence,  the  head  driver  twelve,  a^d 
the  overseer  twenty -four.  When  an  estate  is  urfder 
superior  management,  the  system  is  remarkably 
effective  in  preventing  crime.  The  most  severe 
punishment  required  in  the  last  forty  years  for  a 
body  of  500  negroes  at  Hopcton  was  for  the  theft 
of  one  negro  fromr^anothcp.  In  that  period  there  has 
been  no  criminal  act  of  the  highest  grade,  for  which 
a  delinquent  could  be  committed  to  fj^ie  Penitentiary 
in  Georgia,  and  there  have  been  only  six  cases  of 
assault  and  battery.  As  a  race,  the»negroes  are  mild 
and  forgiving,  and  by  no  means  so  prone  to  indulge 
in  drinking  as  the  white  man  or  the  JndJan.  Therfe 
were  more  serious  quarrels,  and  n\grr  broketr^eads, 
among  the  Irish  in  a  few  years,  when  theycame  to 
dig  the  Brunswick  Canal,  than  had  been  known 
among  the  negroes  in  all  the  surrounding  plantations 
for  half  a  century.  The  murder  of  a  husband  by  a 
blaek  woman,  whom  he  had  beaten  very  violently,  is 
the  greatest  crime  remembered  in  this  part  of  Georgia 
for  a  groat  length  of  time. 


Chap.  XIX.] 


AFRICAN   TOM. 


359 


Under  t^l^hite  overseer,  the  principal  charge  here 
is  given  to  «  Old  Tom,"  the  head  driver,  a  man  of 
superior  intellig^ice  and  higher  cast  of  feature.  He 
was  the  son  of  a  prince  of  the  Foulah  tribe,  and  was 
taken  prisoner,  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  near  Timbuctoo. 
The  accounts  he  gave  of  what  he  remerpbered  of  the 
plants  and  geography  of  Africa,  have  been  taken  doWn 
in  writing  by  Mr.  Couper,  and  confirm  many  of  the 
narratives  of  modern  travellers.  He  has  remained  a 
strict  Mahometan,  but  his  numerous  progeny  of  jet- 
blac^  children  and  grand-children,  all  of  them 
marked  by.  countenances  of  a  more  European  cast 
than  those  of  ordinary  negroes,  have  exchanged  the 
Koran  for  the  Bible. 

During  the  last  war,  when  Admiral  Cockburn  was 
off  this  coast  with  his  fleet,  he  made  an  offer  of  free- 
dom to  all  the  slaves  belonging  to  the  father  of  my 
present  host,  and  a  safe  convoy  to  Canada.  Nearly 
all  would  have  gone,  had  not  African  Tom,  to  whom 
they  looked  up  with  great  r«Mfect,  declined  the  pro- 
posal. He  told  them  he  bad-Mi  known  what  slavery 
was  in.  the  West  Indies,  ^and  had  made  up  his 
mind  |hat  the  English  were  ^orse  masters  than  thd 
Americans.  About  half  of  them,  therefore,  deter- 
mined to  stay  in  St.  Simon's,  Island,  and  not  a  few  of 
the  others  who  accepted  the  offer  and  emigrated,  had 
Jjlteir  lives  shortened  by  the  severity  fi'  the  climate 
in  C^ianada.  /  | 

Th^  slave  trade  ceased  ilk  1796,  and  but  few 
negroes  were  afterwards  smu^ed  into  Georgia  from 
foreign  countries,  except  indirectly  for  a  short  time 
through^Florida  before  ita  annexatioa;  yet  one  fourth 


11 


360 


I 

BLACK  M|J€HANIC, 


# 


,.r 


I 


1'^  y 


I  ' 


[Chap.  XIX. 


of  the  population  of  this  lower  countfy  ifijsaid  to  have 
co.me  direct  from  Africa,  and  it  is  a  good  sign  of  the 
progress  made  in  civilisation  by  the'  nativ^bom 
coloured  race,  that  they  speak  of  these  "  Africanians" 
with  much  of  the  contempt  with  which  Europeans 
talk  of  negroes. 

I  was  agreeably  surprised  to  see  the  rank  held  here 
by  the  black  mechanics.  One  day  I  observed  a  set 
of  carpenters  putting  up  sluices,  and  a  lock  in  a  canal 
of  a  kind  unknown  in  this  part  of  the  world.  The 
black  foreman  was  carrying  into  execution  a  plan  laid 
down  for,  him  on  paper  by  Mr.  Couper,  who  had  ob- 
served it  himself  many  years  ago  in  Holland.  I  also 
saw  a  steam-engine,  of  fifteen  horse-power,  made  in 
England  by  Bolton  and  Watt,  and  used  in  a  mill  for 
f^tjbreshing  rice,  which  had  been  managed  by  a  negro 
r  more  than  twelve  years  without  an  accident. 
,^Yhen  these  mechanics  come  to  consult  M^  Couper 
«on  business,  their  manner  of  speaking  to  him  is  quite 
as  ind^endent  as  that  of  English  ar^tisaiiiis  to  their 
employers.  Their  aptitude  for  the  practice  of  such 
mechanical  arts  may  encourage  every  pl^lanthropist* 
who  has  had  misgivings  in  regard  to  the  progressive 
powers  of  the  race,  although  ipuch  time  will  be  re- 
quired to  improve  the  whole  body  of  negroes,  and 
the>  movement  must  be  general.  One  planter  can  do 
little  by  himself,  so  long  as  education  is  forbidden 
by  law.  I  am  told  that  the  old  colonial  statutes 
against  teaching  the  slaves  to  read  were  almost  in 
abeyance,  and  had  become  a  dead  letter,  until  revived 
by  the  reaction  against  the  Abolition  agitation,  since 
which  they  have  been  rigorously  enforced  and  made 


% 


^ 


■"■•tMMRllli 


Chap.  XIX.]      PROGRESS  IN  CIVILISATION.  361 

more^  stringent.  Nevertheless,  the  negroes  are  often 
taught  to  read,  and  they  learn  much  in  Sunday 
schools,  and  for  the  most  part  are  desirous  of  in- 
struction. 

In  the  hope  of  elevating  the  character  of  some  of 
his  negroes,  and  giving  them^ore  self-dependence, 
Mr.  Couper,  by  way  of  expJ^nt,  set  apart  a  field 
for  the  benefit  of  twenty-fif^cked  men,  and  gave 
up  to  them  half  their  Saturday's  labour  to  till  it 
In  order  that  they  might  know  its  value,  they  werl 
compeUed  to  work  on  it  for  the  first  year,  and  the 
product,   amounting   to    1500  dollars,  was    divided 
equally  among  them.      But  when,  at  length,  they 
,were  left  to  themselves,  they  did  nothing,  atd  at  the 
end  of  two  years  the  field  was  uncultivated.     But 
there   appears  to  me   nothing  disheartening  in  this 
failure,  which  may  have  been  chiefly  owing  to  their 
hdldmgthe  property  in   common,  a   scheme  which    ' 
was   found   not   to  answer  even  with   the  Pilgrim 
Fathers  when  they  first  colonised  Plymouth -men 
,  whom  certainly  none  will  accuse  of  indolence  or  a 
disposition  to  shrink  from  continuous  labour.     The 
dolce  far  niente  »  is  doubtless  the  negro's  paradise, 

snlf  Tw-n  1  "'  ''  '^^"  «^°^^"»  -J^h  much 
spirit  at  Williamsburg  an  appropriate  song  - 

"  Old  Virginia  never  tire, 
^'  Eat  hog  and  hominy,  and  lie  by  the  fire ; " 

and  it  is  quite  enough  that  a  small  minority  should 
be  of  this  mind,  to  make  all  the  others  idle  and  un- 
willing to  toil  hard  for  the  benefit  of  the  sluggard... 

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362 


PROGRESS  OF  KEGROES.  [Chap.  XIX. 


/ 


Whea  conversing  with  different  planters  here,  in 
regard  to  the  capabilities,  and  future  progress  of  the 
black  population,  I  find  them  to  agree  very  generally 
in   the   opinion  that  in  this  part  of  Georgia  they 
appear  under  a  great  disadvantage.     In  St.  Simon's 
island  it  is  admitted,  that  tSe  negroes  on  the  smaller 
estates  ire  more  civilised  than  on  the  larger  proper- 
ties, because  they  associate  with  a  greater  proportion 
of  whites.     In  Glynn  Cbunty,  where  we  are  now 
residing,  there  are  no  less  than  4000  negroes  to  700 
whites ;  whereas  in  Georgia  generally  there  are  only 
281,000  slaves  in  a  population  of  691,000,  or  many 
more  whitWihan  coloured  people.     Throughout  the 
upper   country  there   is   a   large   preponderance  of 
Anglo-Saxons,  and  a  little  reflection  vfiH  satisfy  the 
reader  how  much  the  education  of  a  race  which  starts 
oruunally  from  so  low  a  stage  of  intellectual,  social, 
moh»^,  and    spiritual   development,  as   the  African 
negroid  must  depend  not  on  learning  to   read  and 
write,  but  on  the  amount  of  familiar  intercourse  which 
they  enjoy  with  individuals  of  a  more  advanced  race. 
So  long  as  they  herd  together  in  large  gangs,  and 
rarely  come  into  contect  with  any  whites  save  their 
owner  and  overseer,  they  can  profit  little  by  their 
imitative  faculty,  and  cannot  even  make  much  pro- 
gress in  mastering  the  English  language,  that  power- 
ful instrument  of  thought  and  of  the  communication 
of  ideas,  which  they  are  gaining  in  exchange  for  the 
limited  vocabubury  of  their  native  tribes.     Yet,  even 
.  in  this  part  of  Georgia,  the  negroes  are  very  fiir  f<im 
stationary,  and  each  generation  is  acquiring  habiU  of 
greater  cleanliness  and  propriety  of  behaviour,  while 


r 


.  ifeifcitfaiijgaiJf»«T-' 


-'W'PW'^"^ 


in 


Cbap.  Xrx.]     CONVERSION  OP  NEGROES.  363 

some  are  learning  mechanical  arts,  and  every  year 

many  of  them  becoming  converts  to  Christianity. 

■Although  the  Baptist  and  Methodist  missionaries 
have  been  the  most  active  in  this  important  work, 
the  Episcopalians  have  not  been  idle,  especiaUy  since 
l^r.  Elliott  became  Bishop  of  Georgia,  and  brought 
bis  talents,  zeal,  and  energy  to  the  task.    As  he  found 
that  the  negroes  in  general  had  no  faith  in  the  effi- 
cacy,of  baptism  except  by  complete  immersion,  he 
performed  the  ceremony  as  they  desired.      Indeed, 
according  to  the  old  English  rubric,  aU  persons  were 
wqun-ed  to  be  immersed  in  baptism,  except  when 
they  were  sick,  so  that  to  lose  converts  by  not  com- 
plying with  this  popular  notion  of  the  slaves,  would 
hardly  have  been  justifiable.    It  may  be  true  that  the 
poor  negroes  cherish  a  superstitious  belief  that  the 
washing  out  of  every  taint  of  sin  depends  mainly  on 
the  particular  manner  of  performing  the  rite,  and 
the  principal  charm  to  the  black  women  in  the  cere- 
mony  of  total  imqiersion  consists  in  decking  them- 
selves  out  in  white  robes,  like  brides,  and  having 
their  shoes  trimmed  with  silver.     They  welUkiow 
that  the  waters  of  the  Alatamaha  are  chillj,  and 
that  they  and  the  officiating  minister  run  no  small 
nsk  of  catehing  cold,  but  to  this  penance  they  most 
cheerfully  submit.  ^ 

Of  dancing  and  music  the  negroes  are  passionately  " 
fond.  On  the  Hopeton  plantation  above  twenty 
violins  have  been  silenced  by  the  Methodist  mission- 
anes,  yet  it  is  notorious  that  the  slaves  were  not 
given  to  dririk  or  intemperance  in  their  morry- 
makings.     At  the  Jlethodiat  pmyor  niuLlings,  ihey 


R   8 


-). 


U:J_flK;i>tt,-s,aAS»Ji'.iE    , 


\  \ 


-n 


364         METHODIST   PRATER-MEETINGS.   [Chap.  XIX, 

are  permitted  to  move  round  rapidly  in  a  ring,  joining 
hands  io  token  of  brotherly  love,  presenting  first  the 
right  hand  and  then  the  left,  in  which  manoeuvre,  I 
am  told,  they  sometimes  contrive  .to  take  enough 
exercise  to  serve  as  a  substitute  for  the  dance,  it 
being,  in  fact,  &  kind  of  spiritual  AcmZaw^er,  while 
the  ringing  of  psalms,  in  and  out  of  chapelj  compen- 
sates in  no  small  degree  for  the  songs  they  have  been 
required  to  renounce. 

However  much  we  may  feel  inclined  to  smile  at 
some  of  these  outward  tokens  of  conversion,  and 
how«ver  crude  may  be  the  notions  of  the  Deity 
which  the  poor  African  at  first  exchanges  for  his  be- 
li^  in  the  evil  eye  and  other  superstitious  fears,  it 
is  nevertheless  an  immense  step  in  his  progress  to- 
wards civilisation  that  he  should  join  some  Christian 
sect.    Before  he  has  time  to  acqdire  high  conceptions 
of  his  Creator,"  or  to  comprehend  his  own  probationary 
state  on  earth,  and  his  moral  and  religjMputies,  it 
is  no  small  gain   that  he  should  sim^^ecome  a 
member  'of  the  same  church  with  lys  master,  and. 
shouTd  be  taught  that  the  white  aiid  coloured  man 
are  equal  before  God,  a  dodtrine  calculated  to  raise 
him  in  his  own  opinion,  and  in  that  of  the  dominant 

Until  lately  the  humblest  slave  who  jomed  the 
Methodist  or  Baptist  denomination  could  feel  that  he 
was  one  of  a  powerful  association  of  Christians,  which 
numbered  hundreds  of  thousands  of  brethren  in  the 
Northern  as  weU  as  in  the  Southern  States.  He  could 
claim  many  schools  wid  colleges  of  high  repute  in 
Nflw  En^and  as  belonging  to  his  own  sect,  and  feel 


'f^  !-\ 


'^X^ 


^Ti^iy^^j^  '^ 


Chap.  XIX.]  .  SEPARATION  6f  CHURCHES.  365 

'"  proud  of  many  celebrated  writera  whom  they  havt 
educated.    Unfortunately,  a  recent  separation,  com. 
monly  called  "th^  North  and  South  split,"  has  se- 
vered  these  bonds  of  fellowship  and  fraternity,  and 
for  the  sake  of  renduncing  brotherhood  with  slave- 
owners, the  Northern  churches  have  repudiated  all 
communion  with    the  great  body  of   their  negro 
fellow  Christians.    What  effect  can  suoh.estrangement 
have  on  the  mind,  whether  of  master  or  slave,  favour- 
able to  the  cause  of  emancipation  ?   The  slight  thrown 
on  the  aristocracy  of  planters  has  no  tendency  to  con- 
ciliate them,  oy  lead  them  to  assimilate  their  senti- 
ments to  those  of  their  brethren  in  the  faith,  with 
whom  formerly,  throughout  the  Northern  and  Free 
States,  they  had  so  intimate  a  connection ;  and  as  for 
the  slaves,  it  is  to  them  a  positive  loss  to  be  thus 
rejected  and  disc^ned.     The  rank  and  position  of 
the  negro  preachers  in,  the  South,  \%ether  Baptist  or 
Methodist,  some  of  Jhem  freemen,  and  of  good  abi- 
lities, is  decidedly  lowered  by  the  severuice  of  fhe 
Nc^thern  churches,  which*  is  therefore  adverse  tq  the 
gradual  advancement  pf  the  African  race,  which  can 
alone  fit  them  for  manumission. 

Some  of  the  planners  in  Glynn  county  have,  of  Ute 
permitted  the  distribution  of  Bibles  among  their 
slaves,  and  it  was  curious  to  renf?irk  that  they  who 
were  unable  t6  read  ^ere  as  anxious  to  possess  them 
as  those  who  could.  Besides  christianising  the  blacks, 
the  clergy  of  all  sects  are  doing  them  incalculable 
service,  by  preaching  continuaUy  to  both  races  that 
the  matrimonial  tie  should  be  held  sacred,  without 
respect  to  colour.     To  the  dominant  race  nna^nf  the 


^; 


.if  t 


LiM^M4t%\i,a.-i"''.    ,tA.^ 


.i^  5.,.   ..t-^r- 


Wtg^mfmm 


< 


,'^  >, 


•^1,^»VYY'? 


366     '  MIXTURE  OF   RACES.  [Chap.  XIX. 

most  serious  evils  of  slavery  is  its  tendency  to  blight 
domestic  happiness;  and  the  anxiety  of  parents  for 
their  sons,  and  a  constant  fear  of  their  licentious  inter- 
course with  slaves,  is  painfully  great.    We  know  but 
too  much  of  this  evil  in  free  countries,  wherever 
there  is  a  vast  distance  between  the  rich  and  poor, 
giving  a  power  to  wealth  which  insures  a  frightful 
amount  of  prostitution.     Here  .it  is   accompanied 
with  a  publicity  whiciiSs  keenly  felt  as  a  disgrace  by 
the  more  refined  of  the  white  women.     The  female 
slave  is  proud  of  her 'connexion  with  a  white,  man, 
and  thinks  it  an  honour  to  have  a   mulatto  child, 
hoping  that  it  will  be  better  provided  for  thrtn  a  black 
child.    Yet  the  mixed  offspring  is  not  very  numerous. 
The  mulattos  alone  represent  nearly  all  the  iUicit 
intercourse  between  the  white  man  and  negro  of  the 
living  generation.     I  am  told  J^at  they  do  not  con- 
stitute  more  than  two  and  a  half  per  cent,  of  the 
whole  population.    If  the  statistics  of  the  Ulegitimate 
children  of  the  whites  bom  here  Qould  be  compared 
with  those  ia  Great  Britain,  it  might  lead  to  conclu- 
sions by  no  means  favourable  to  the  free  country,. 
Here  there  is  no  possibility   of  concealment;   the 
colour  of  the  child  stamps  upon  him  the  mark  of 
bastardy,   and   transmits  it   to    great-grandchildren 
born  in  lawful  wedlock;  whereas  if,  in  Europe,  there 
was  some  mark  or  itidelible  stain  betraying  all  the 
delinquencies  and  frailties,  not  only  of  parents,  but 
of  ancestors  for  three  or  four  generations  back,  what 
unexpected  disclosures  should  we  not  witness  1 

There  arc  scarcely  any  instances  of  mulattos  born 
of  ft  black  father  and  »  white  mother,  ^he  coloured 


/  7 


Chap.  XIX.]  MIXTURE   OP   Ra6es. 


367 


women  who  become  the  mistresses  of  the  white  men  ^^ 

are  neither  rendered  miserable  nor  degraded,  as  are  the 

white  women  who  are  seduced  in  Europe,  and  who 

are  usually  abandoned  in  the  end,  and  left  to  be  the 

victims  of  want  and  disease.     In  the  northern  states 

of  America  there  is  so  little  profligacy  of  this  kind, 

that  their  philanthropists  may  perhaps  he  usefully 

occupied    in'   considering    how   the    mischief   may 

be  alleviated  south  of  the  Potomac;  but  in  Great 

Britain  there  is  so  much  need  of  reform  at  home, 

that  the  whole  thoughts  and  energies  of  the  rich  ought 

to  be  concentrated  in  such  schemes  of  improvement 

as  n^y  enable  us  to  set  an  example  of  a  higher  moral 

standard  to  the  slave-owning  aristocracy  of  the  Vnion. 

On  pne  of  the  estates  in  this  part  of  Georgia,  4  i 

there  is  a  mulatto  mother  ^lio  has  nine  children  by 
a  full  black,  and  the  difference  of  shade  between 
them  and  herself  is  scarcely  perceptible.  If  the  white 
blood  usually  predominates  m  ^his  way  in  the  second 
generation,  as  I  am  told  is  the  case,  amalgamation 
would  proceed  very  rapidly,  if  marriages  between  ' 
the  races  were  once  legaiised ;  for  we  see  in  England 
that  black  men  can  persuade  yery  respectable  white 
women  to  marry  them,  when  all  idea  of  the  illegality  • 
and  degradation  of  such  unions  is  foreign  to  their 
thoughts. 

Among  the  obstacles  which  the  Christian  mission-  • 
aries  encounter  here  when  they  teach  the  virtue  of 
chastity,  I  must  not  omit  to  mention  the  loose  code 
of  morality  which  the  Africans  have  inherited  from 
their  parents.  My  wife  made  the  acquaintance  of  a 
lady  in  Alabama,  who  had  brought  up  with  great 


ilk: 


ti>^iiii'ti\ti 


t 


ttuWiiiftiiHiifiitiif"'*  V  ttfi^-  r  ii»»ij 


m-: 


I. Rill 


\ 


.868     MORAi  CONCltldK  OP  NEOROES.   [Chap.  XIX^ 

cm  »  Coloured  gid^  who  grew  up  modest  and  well* 
belayed,  tiU  at  length  she  became  the  mother  of  a 
mulatto  child.     The  mistre*  repix)ached  her  very 
severdy  for  her  misconduct,  and  the  girl  at  first  took 
tiie  rebuke  much  to  heart ;  but  having  gone  home  one 
day  to  visit  her. mother,  a  native  African,  she  re- 
turned,  saying,  that  her  parent  had  assured  her  she 
had  done  nothing  wrong,  and  had  no  reason  to  feel 
^whamed.    When  we  are  estimatmg,  therefore,  the 
amount  of  progresi  made  by  the  Ameriean  negroes 
aince  they  left  their  nafive  country,  we  ought  always 
to  bear  m  mind  from  how  low  a  condition,  both 
morally^nd  mtdlectuaUy  considered,  they  have  had 
to  mount  up* 


M-_ 


/: 


END   OF    THE   FIRST   VOLUME. 


v'S 


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LoMbON : 

SrorlruirooDEi  and  Shaw, 

Nevr-«rett.Sqiwr«. 

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■JttAP.  XIX. 

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